I Care
by Kashi-Cookie-Monster
Summary: What if the only member of team 7 to have a decent childhood didn't? Dead parents, useless boyfriends and crappy teammates. What else could Sakura possibly ask for! Eventual Kakasaku.
1. An Alarming Child

A/N -

Ages-Kakashi – 21

Sakura – 7

*See end for A/N

Chapter One

Hatake Kakashi walked in silence towards the academy, a pink-haired child by his side. His thoughts wandered again to the child walking beside him, and why she walked in the same manner as he did; most of his custom traits were ones that he had accumulated after the death of his teammates. He walked as quietly as possible, his feet making little noise against the uneven ground, slumped over, with his shoulders foreword yet he still showed signs of excellent posture. He was confident and didn't try to meld back, yet his constantly downcast eyes replayed vivid memories and puzzled through mysteries undisturbed. The current mystery was the seven year old he had decided to walk toward the academy.

_He was walking toward his favourite cafe to pick up a coffee before attempting to weasel his way out of teaching another genin team. They would only fail anyway - they all did._

_Kakashi got his coffee to go, and then entered back into the freezing cold, and started to walk towards the training ground three, when he saw a girl leaving it. She didn't appear old enough to be using the ground, only about seven or eight; she was quite short, but tied to her waist was a homework scroll only given to those of eight or nine, if not older. She should've been at school, but he wouldn't reprimand her- he was meant to be at the academy himself. _

_Walking past her, he headed directly towards the cenotaph, caring not for the scenery surrounding. Anyone else, anywhere else, may have stopped to admire the lilies peeking out, or the delicate blossoms starting to form on the trees holding tears of those who'd lost, and blood of those who hungered to become stronger. _

_After what seemed like hours of just staring and mutely talking to those who were long gone, he made his first movement in over an hour, the movement that always seemed the longest because it was the first step to leaving._

"_I'll be back, Obito." A wave of pink caught his eye as he saw a girl turned to leave the training ground. With a start he realised that it was most definitely the same girl as before, and she wasn't turned to leave. On closer observation, one could see that hey eye were transfixed, not moving an inch and rarely blinking. Kakashi's eyes followed hers to be met with the sight of another stone. She was staring at the names. _

Why had she been there? Who had she lost? Kakashi, for the first time in almost a decade felt the urge to talk to another human being. He had wanted to talk to her, not to confide in her, but to hear what she had to say he felt would confirm his own thought and validate his feelings. Yet he hadn't asked; he instead offered to walk her towards the academy. If she wished to be left alone, he would be silent. If she wished to talk, he would listen.

"Hey," He paused a moment. "I'm-"

"Hatake-sempai!" The girl interrupted. "An elite ex-anbu, entered into the bingo books aged 12, only a chunin. Now known as the mirror eye Kakashi." Her voice was incredibly quiet and carried the tone of someone repeating knowledge word for word from the source. She blushed lightly and looked down again, her eyes slightly clouded and her mouth inching towards a frown. She looked slightly apprehensive or upset, further confusing the usually clear-headed ninja.

"And who are you then?" She looked up once again, surprise now playing on her features.

"Ha-Haruno Sakura."

"Isn't your Sensei going to be upset that you're late?"

"He probably won't notice."

"I should imagine he would."

"I do independent study. And sometimes work with the classes above." Kakashi frowned. This would've been nothing a few years ago, but now it was a call for concern.

"How old are you, Sakura-san?"

"Seven." This shocked Kakashi, but only because of the scroll.

"Really?"

"Yes. Why would I lie? My birthday was two weeks ago." She sounded accusing as if her guard was going up, and she spoke as if older than her age.

"I thought you were older, that's all. Your scroll..." He waited patiently for an explanation. He was sure that he would receive a heated comeback, and was off put when he didn't. She just carried on walking. After a while she glanced at him, multiple times, glancing back at the ground in between.

"Sempai, why-" She paused for a moment before continuing softly. "Why were you at the training ground when..."

"I don't have a team?" She looked at him for confirmation, her head cocked to the side slightly, reminding him of Pakkun. 'Cept Pakkun only did it when he wanted something. "The same reason you were there." She looked surprised, and the emotion, along with sadness filled her features completely, and he realised they were the first emotions that had. Her guard was faltering.

"Wh-... um..." She looked him directly in the eyes, also for the first time. "I'm sorry." He couldn't help but smile as the girl bit her lip, her cheeks bright red and a look of guilt on her face. He reached out one hand to ruffle her hair lightly, the other one left in his pocket. His voice came out gruffer than intended.

"That's okay Sakura-chan." She still looked guilty, though the ever present look of surprise was still there.

"Bu-but still..." She lowered her voice further. "You don't need reminders, o-or intruders." The last word was whispered rather than spoken and her eyes were wide and soft as she craned her neck up to look at him. He smiled at her, eyes crinkling so that she could see it despite the mask, before chuckling softly.

"You weren't intruding." He laughed again. " _I_ interrupted _you,_ remember?" She looked uncertain for a split second before laughing along with him.

"Yes, but you didn't ask _why_!"

"Because I know." He paused for a moment before continuing. "And of course, because it wouldn't have been polite!" This was accompanied by his signature smile before he glanced down at her softly. "But if you want to talk, I won't stop you." Her wide eyes were stunning; completely filled with hidden depths.

"M-My uncle and cousins." She choked out the words, avoiding eye contact with him. "They were killed as a result of the mutiny." Kakashi opened his mouth to speak, but she answered his unasked question. "Against Uchiha."

"Why?"

"Because they stood up for them." Kakashi's mind was reeling with questions, over and over again, and he knew he would just have to be patient. "My family stood against them, yes, but only because they were scared of them. When the clan died, no one really cared. Some pretended they were sad, others congratulated Itachi." Her voice twisted on Itachi's name."When the elders stated that if Itachi was found he would be killed, my uncle stood up for him. And found himself and his children dead. 'Passed away' the night after the meeting. Everyone knew, yet no one would say who had killed them." She stared directly forward as she spoke. "Everyone tried to hush around me, but it was pointless." She shook her head. "I was five, so they thought that I would believe their lies. But I heard it. I was next door when it... happened..."

...

"...I'm sorry." Kakashi murmured, knowing that it wasn't enough, but that there was nothing else he could do. Sorrow filled every movement she made, every deliberate step she took. All of her movements were fluid but Kakashi could see that they were wooden. Like a doll, she looked innocent and had a pretty face, distracting from her haunted eyes, her grace masking the unease with which she held herself. Inside, she was empty.

A/N : These ages will not be staying the same for the next chapters. This is mostly just setting, so you know the facts about Sakura that I have changed. As a result of these things changing, both Sakura and Sasuke will behave slightly differently (or a lot differently). So, yeah, that is why they might seem slightly OOC later. This will eventually be a Kakasaku, but it will take a few chapters to build up to that. If you don't care about introductory type drivel, you could always skip to chapter 11 and scroll to the bottom. That's where things start to get interesting.

Thank you for reading!

R&R!


	2. A Lazy, Late and Unperceptive Man

"Hmmm… how shall I put this?" Kakashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully, eyes shut as he tried to suppress his silent giggles. "Based on my first impression , I'd have to say… I hate you!" Kakashi blinked a few times as he opened his eye, trying to be subtle in his attempts to expel the chalk dust. He gazed lazily at his new team, taking in their appearance with little interest. The infamous Naruto, the 'pole stuck up his ass' Uchiha, and… a girl.

A girl with green eyes and bright pink hair.

Now needing some clean air to breathe, Kakashi lead his team outside. He now had fresh air, a railing to lean against, and could make a quick exit. Nice.

"Now, I'd like you all to tell us a little bit about yourselves."

"Like what?" A cool voice asked. The copy nin could feel a disagreeable atmosphere emanating from the young marshmallow, and so he kept his voice nonchalant and closed his eye as he replied. "…You know, the usual. Your favourite thing… what you hate most…" he gestured from side to side with his hands. Dreams, ambitions, hobbies. Things like that."

And like all good ninja (or good wannabe ninja), his team did not immediately offer up any information about themselves. Instead…

"Help us out here coach. You go first." Naruto's eyes held a slight demand in their blue depths. "Show us how it's done." As much as he could brush off the Uzumaki brat, Haruno and Uchiha were now glaring at him with accusatory eyes as well. Both of them were quite sharp, and certainly wouldn't let him wriggle out of it so easily. _Damn._

Kakashi reached inside himself for the most deadpan voice he could find. "Oh… me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the kind of person" Kakashi maintained eye contact with the hyper brat as he spoke "Who doesn't like talking about his likes and dislikes!" His eye left Naruto and slowly bore into the other two as he continued. "My dreams for the future are none of your business… but anyway, I have lots of hobbies…" A snort came from the left and he turned to meet a raised pink eyebrow.

"Sensei… all you told us was your name…"

"Well then… you will have to learn to look underneath. You shouldn't always have to be told."

"Going by today we get a lazy, late and unperceptive man with no desire whatsoever to teach." Sasuke's cool voice broke in, startling Kakashi with its tone. It wasn't questioning, he spoke as a statement. Here was a child who was very certain of himself. He was also quite accurate. Kakashi stared down the interesting brat (he possibly had the most interesting team).

"You don't have to like me. You just have to be willing to learn."

"Well… I am WILLING TO LEARN! BeLIEVE IT!"

"Sensei, what will we be learning?"

"That depends on how well you do in tomorrow's survival exercises."

"SURVIVAL EXER-"BAM! Two fists whacked Naruto on the head.

"Shut up Naruto."

"Shut up dobe."

**The next day-**

Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke, half heartedly waving at the genins-to-be.

"Good morning class!"

"You're late!" Naruto shrieked only to be met with an unblinking stare rather than an apology. "Guys…" He appealed to Sakura and Sasuke. "He's late!"

"Hn. Yeah, dobe…" Sasuke reluctantly murmured.

"… Just like he was yesterday." Sakura finished for him.

Kakashi snorted and rolled his eye as he placed an alarm clock onto a tree stump. "I've set the alarm to go off at noon." He reached into his pockets, watched by the children eagerly observing him. "I have here two small bells…" His eye swept around the small group, checking that their attention was on him. "Your challenge is to steal these from me before the timer sounds. Anyone who fails doesn't get any lunch." He gestured towards the stump that held the clock. "Instead, you will be tied to that tree stump so that I can eat your lunch in front of you.

You need one bell apiece, so one of you is definitely headed for the stump. The first to fail."

Naruto gulped audibly at this, his fingers twitching as he thought it through. Sasuke's reaction was limited to a slight stiffening as he schooled himself to remain impassive.

"What techniques may we use?"

"Anything you wish, jutsu-wise. You may also use shuriken if you wish." Sakura didn't appear even remotely perturbed as she smirked at him, completely unafraid. This test wouldn't have any worth unless she was at least a little worked up about it.

He held her gaze.

"Attack as if you mean to kill, or you will never stand a chance."

Sakura ended the match before it had really begun, without landing a single hit, or throwing a single kunai.

A/N I am incredibly sorry for the delay in updating! With a re-write at that! This is so short because it was originally going to be half of a chapter, however because it has been so long I have decided to update now anyway. I will try to have the next chapter up in the next couple of days. I'll definitely be finishing this and updating regularly, but I have somehow crashed my computer keyboard. If anyone else has ever done this, they will understand how infuriating On-Screen Keyboard can be.

Thank you to:

MySoulIsYoursTakeIt, Melyss, bEhOld.I'mBleeding, rageoffire, angel897, XxNarutoFanGurlxX, konoha kid, and Black Mirror ()

For rev/fav/sub You guys are gold :P


	3. Safe or Sorry?

'_**I can't even think of one good reason**_

_**Why I'm always thinking about leaving**_

_**It's not like everything's so horrible**_

_**We've been together for a few years now**_

_**And you know all my ins and outs**_

_**But everything's way too comfortable**_

_**From the moment I wake I plan my escape**_

_**I'm not scared**_

_**'Cause I know there's something out there waiting for me**_

_**And I swear that I'll find it someday, just wait and see**_

_**I don't care that you call me crazy**_

_**I can't stay 'cause I need room to breathe**_

_**There's nothing left to say, better sorry than safe'**_

_**Better Sorry Than Safe ~ Halestorm**_

Sakura smoothed her hair in the mirror again, for the ninth time in four minutes. Of course her appearance hadn't changed since the first time, and that hadn't stopped her from trying to perfect it.

Not entirely happy, but now too frustrated to try (for the moment anyway), Sakura picked up a glass of water and approached 'Kashi – kun'. She had inventively named her plant this after both her and Kakashi had received them as a gift from a client. He had looked happier than she had ever seen him when presented with this, and had even let her know something about himself; that he had killed his last plant, Mr Ukki. She knew straight away that she would never be able to look at a plant again without picturing Kakashi surrounded by dead greenery. Aaaaaaaaaannnd… Bingo! The plant was named Kashi-kun.

Now that her mind had unknowingly drifted and Kashi-kun was positively swimming, Sakura placed down the water glass and turned to analyse herself in the full length mirror opposite her bed. Her outfit was something that she was still very unsure of. She had tried quite a few combinations, and Ino had even dropped by to give her a few dresses to try. None of them had felt right, either clashing terribly with her hair or showing more of her legs than she was comfortable with.

And. Of course, no matter what she chose she would look like she had no chest.

She was currently wearing a low neck shirt in her signature red that showed off 'her' cleavage. The effect sadly wasn't even her, but a result of the push up bra she was wearing. Even then she didn't look well endowed. Good thing she wasn't planning on letting this get to the point this evening of taking her bra off, or he would be rather disappointed. Looking critically in the mirror, so was Sakura.

Torao was a very nice bloke who probably wouldn't even comment anyway. He constantly asked if she was ok with their relationship and was always willing to talk properly and spend time with her. She couldn't picture him ever doing anything to hurt her. She felt comfortable with him, but she knew deep down that comfort wasn't everything.

She would try and make this last, she would try not to seen hot and cold with him. He was genuinely decent, and honestly didn't deserve it. He, like her, would try to make it work.

Over an hour later, Sakura had changed her clothes twice more, drank some tea and beat up some custard creams. She didn't feel any tingly anticipation. She felt nothing.

Torao arrived at six on the dot, perfectly on time as always. He handed her a single red rose and greeted her politely, as always. Following routine, he leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. There were no tingles running through her. As always, she felt nothing. She felt comfortable wrapped in his embrace. But she knew that comfort wasn't everything.

"Really? Wow… that's impressive…" It really was great hat her date had wandered off into a self-talk rampage, because this was quite rare for him and required minimal effort from her. He was too busy talking to realise that she really didn't give a damn. Sakura frowned as she took another sip of her drink. Shouldn't she want him to be attentive? Shouldn't she enjoy him hanging on her every word?

Sakura nodded politely as she tried to remember what he was talking about. She rifled through the brief snippets that had made it into her mind. Boring anecdote about crazy uncle, custom kunai, their future…

ANBU. Bingo.

"I'm sure that any team would be lucky to have you. Compassion is something found less and less in the field these days." Because it wasn't often needed, and used even less. As Sakura had found out.

Torao's hand reached across the table to entwine gently with Sakura's, as he gave a soft, understanding smile. "Thank you." He squeezed her fingers lightly. " I am certain that your team regard you with the same sentiments exactly. And I really hope that we can work together at some point."

Sakura choked slightly on the beverage that she had been sipping steadily, and her eyes widened involuntarily.

"What? As in… me join ANBU?" He just laughed quietly and leaned closer to her as he replied, using a napkin to dap away the tiny droplets of Bacardi that adorned her cheek.

"Yes. You could definitely pass." He grinned widely at her. "And we currently have a shortage of medics, as we have a very low ratio of women to men."

"What? So you're saying only women are medics? And that it's the only reason a woman would be in ANBU?" Sakura glared across the table, her moss coloured eyes hardened to the coldest jade. Who was he to judge? Who was he to think he knew _anything_ about her?

'Well, he IS your boyfriend… Cha!' Inner Sakura conceded, doing a happy dance while holding up a picture of the ANBU insignia. 'Hell YEAH!'

"No, I am saying that a higher percentage of medics are female than male. And since men are as a general rule physically superior, they are more likely to pass the ANBU test."

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't think a bird of prey could take a small child, but it happens!" Sakura threw her napkin at the table and stormed off the restroom with a look that wished the receiver death.

As she hurriedly left she knew she'd already forgiven him. She always did. And despite her constant thoughts for the last two months of breaking up with him, it would probably be him that finally ended it. And, she thought cynically, probably when he finally got bored of her excuses to not put out.

A/N: Sorry for the shortness (again!). Thank you to:

Gleek221, Haruki Hitomi, crawfishlova, MySoulIsYoursTakeIt, Hannah Bowers and angel897

3Love 3 Love3Love :P

And yh, I've started sharing music with you. Try listening to it!


	4. Chapter 4

The morning began as many had for the last four months. With four birds perched at the crack of dawn on the windowsill of each member of team 7, alerting each ninja that once again the alarm that they had set (or two had set) would not be needed. And that Tsunade wanted to see them, so they better move fast.

Well, moving fast was a matter of opinion anyway, and when one team member made an effort to be as royally late as possible (and beat yesterdays time) and another had the memory of a goldfish, Sakura reasoned that the remaining two could surely be allowed a lie in, and held a pillow over her head to ignore it. If it were important, Tsunade would've sent people instead of birds and most likely would've looked for a more punctual team first… if such pleasing do-gooders could handle it. Kakashi may be late, but he was never too late top save their asses. He would always protect his team.

This thought was often what comforted her most. While… some were built for the destruction of other, weaker beings, her Sensei had always placed his own life on the line to save others, to protect them. And this made her feel stronger. The amount of 'powerful' beings was to numerous to give a value, but to truly control that power and use it selflessly was something that the pink haired warrior had always admired. He always kept his cool. He never lost his dignity.

Sighing as she pulled her head out from under her chocolate coloured pillow, Sakura dragged herself into a position where she still lay face down but now her arms supported her upper body. She barely opened her eyes properly before she flopped back down. She hated mornings. The bright daylight caused her vision to turn pixilated, and the long break from food gave her nausea, and in turn made her not want to eat breakfast, which just made it worse. Her senses awoke before her, she cool feel the slight sweatiness of her skin against the soft covers, hear her nails scrape slightly on the sheets and, when she looked up properly, see yesterdays clothes discarded on the otherwise pristine floor. All of it made her want to go back to sleep. But right now, Sakura decided as she stretched her arms above her head, she needed to train.

After a rather hurried breakfast of scalding coffee and a half eaten breakfast bar, the slender woman slipped silently through the door to the living room. Albeit not huge, the room did have enough space for a punching bag on one side and still a sofa, coffee table and T.V. on the other without being **too** dangerous….

Well, there was a reason she had bought a cheap T.V. rather than a pretty one.

Angling herself into a good position she measured her fist up against the heavy bad and gave a couple of light hits with each hand before moving her whole body into it and working up a rhythm. Her hits were light but fast as she with held charka and moved herself around in the process; there was no point aiming for a target if she could only hit it when standing still. She kept a defensive stance as she trained, her eyes focused on how the bag responded to each punch and occasional kick, her mind recording it archiving every response to the tactical area of her mind. For just over thirty minutes, she worked with an eerie unbroken concentration before leaving the room still breathing lightly. Once turned away, she did not spare another look back at her still swinging opponent.

20 minutes, a shower and a warm wind jutsu later, Sakura was out the door with warm, dry hair, and a much more relaxed, awake expression. It was without pause or change of pace that she leapt up from the ground to rooftop, to glide over buildings and trees towards her destination. Unfortunately for a certain silver haired shinobi, Kaka-Sensei's home was on route, and the lazy teacher was going to find himself dragged out by the ear. Again.

Kakashi only put up a minor resistance as she swung into his bedroom, a token effort of wrapping his arms around his head and whining at her to leave. Just for the routine.

"Sakura, this is highly inappropriate and-"Sakura snorted.

"By now, Sensei, you cannot class almost anything as inappropriate!"

"I might have had a girlfriend over, then it would have been highly inappropriate!"

Sakura paused her battling and frowned at him.

"Sensei, I've never seen you with a girlfriend."

"I'm not an exhibitionist, so I should hope not."

Sakura whacked him fairly lightly on the arm. "That's not what I meant!" She leant back slightly, and her expression sadly mimicked one that Naruto often wore. "…Are you gay?"

One look at her face told him that she was being serious. He stared directly back at her fixated gaze without blinking.

"Yes, Sakura, I'm gay." He paused, hiding a grin under his mask."I also know Tsunade's bra size and read Make Out Paradise, but you're right. I must be gay."

"Oh." Sakura looked slightly stumped now, and continued to evaluate him before nodding with her conclusion. "You prefer fantasy romance to real life." She nodded sagely. "Got it."

Kakashi sighed as he picked up his duvet from where it had fallen during their scuffle and made his bed. "Actually, I prefer student who let me get up of my own accord."

His reply was his headband hitting his face.

"Time to go."

He thought his day couldn't get any worse…

Then they were given The Mission.


	5. Infamous Orange Novel

A/N - Things are going to pick up a bit now, and thoughts will be in italics but so will flashbacks. Don't get confused. This WILL HAVE MENTIONS OF RAPE. I will try to stay relatively vague, because this is a sensitive subject, but you have been warned. But if you bear with me, things will get worse before they get better, and we will also have a love story.

**Chapter five**

It had been three hours. Three hours since they had seen any signs of life and it was cold. Torturously so, and now they didn't even have Naruto to keep watch, Kakashi thought bitterly. He'd been knocked out by Sakura a fair while ago, a fact that was infuriating to the remaining three ninja being kept awake by sub zero temperatures while the irritating blonde slept peacefully. And wearing Sakura's extra jacket at that, since she'd felt slightly guilty once her anger had cooled off; irritating kunoichi.

She was now huddled as close to their fire as she could safely get, her teeth chattering because she was worried that Naruto might wake up with a slight bruise for her to kiss better. It was truly ridiculous.

Said ninja was now glaring into the flames determinedly forcing her jaw under control, her chapped lips quivering and her skin pale with rose dusted cheeks, her eyes slightly too bright from the wind that kept whipping into the cave that was their refuge.

Kakashi stiffly got up from his reading perch on top of a rock and managed to force his frozen limbs into the action of walking towards her. He now remembered why survival guides were always going on about keeping active in cold conditions, well he hadn't _forgotten,_ he had just been to lazy to move, and was now regretting it. He stopped directly at eye level with his pink haired medic, and lifted his headband from his eye. Before she could even ask him what he was doing, the sharingan had done its job and Kakashi had only to lean his arms forward to catch the instantly slumbering woman. He carried her quietly to the side of the cave, where it would be warmer when t night reached its colder hours and tried to tuck her into her sleeping bag, having to pull it out from under Naruto in the process.

_Mooching little idiot._

Sasuke watched these actions from his corner at the back, and got up to help when Kakashi had difficulty keeping hold of Sakura and simultaneously opening the sleeping bag. Once this task had been managed he leaned forward to whisper to Kakashi, trying not to wake up the other two in the process.

"You should get some sleep. I'll wake you in a couple of hours." Kakashi nodded, and Sasuke sat down again, but by the fire this time, so he could watch the outside, waiting for any sign that anything had changed.

000

Three hours later, when it was time to switch shifts, nothing had except for the doodled that Sasuke had added into the snow using a stick. They wouldn't have made Sai proud, but they had saved him from wondering how long it would take to fall off the cliff and splat at the bottom.

Sasuke leant over Kakashi, smiling slightly at the way they were cuddled up, their arms outside of their sleeping bags to wrap around each other. It was instinctive to move closer to warmth when unconscious, but Sakura did not usually follow this pattern. If anyone touched her while she was asleep it was normal for her to try and punch them in the face, or attack with a kunai if she had one handy. Him and Kakashi had had many an epic battle over who would be the one to wake her up.

And both got hit when they accidentally did.

This was why he was careful not to nudge Sakura as he shook his sensei's shoulder.

"Oi, Kakashi. Get up you lazy git!"

A millisecond later, Kakashi's sleeping bag was empty and the man was standing behind Sasuke with a kunai.

"Have some respect for your elders you little shit."

Kakashi wasn't always the nicest person to wake up either, and it was with very sluggish movements and sleep closed eyes that he stole Sasuke's seat, already cold despite the hours of his body heat warming the space.

Well at least he got his revenge a few hours later when he woke Sasuke up.

He thought he'd just tip a bucket of water over him and save him the time it took to wash. It was petty but it made Kakashi feel less cold, looking at his shivering student use a fireball jutsu to dry off.

Out of mutual agreement, they all left Sakura to wake up on her own.

000

Nearing the evening, they finally reached the small town that was their final destination. It was a large relief to all four of the ninja, who were all tired from lack of sleep and pushing themselves hard on this leg of the journey; they had all wanted to reach the hotel tonight and sleep in a warm bed in a room with central heating. The place was rather remote, but it did have shops and lodgings, and that was presumably why their contact had arranged to meet here.

Only Kakashi would be talking to the contact; he was ANBU and as an ex-ANBU Kakashi was really the only candidate, and his team the only one who could spare the time and be trusted enough to take this mission.

Although, it would really have been nice to dump this on some unsuspecting genin, who would be too caught up in how big and clever the were to truly appreciate how horrendous this was. They had to travel through three counties to get to this one, two of them currently in conflict, and when they finally got to this one they had a week of rough campouts, in the freezing cold mountains waiting to get mauled by bears and therefore only able to take powdered goods with them, lest they get sniffed out by a predator and gobbled up for a morning snack.

Or an afternoon snack. Depends how long it took to chomp all of them.

Sakura smiled as she caught sight of a bookshop.

_Guess how long it takes for Kakashi to spot it._

Apparently the silver haired ninja already had. Because he was making a beeline for it despite Sasuke and Naruto's protests that if they didn't get to a hotel soon they were going to have to kill him, and that would be bad news considering their contact.

As usual, Kakashi did not listen. That or he thought that their skills still weren't up to par.

The shop itself suited Kakashi down to the ground. The books themselves may have bright colours, but the colour scheme for the entire place was quite dark and understated, and the windows weren't large enough to let in sufficient light to make the place look lively. This however, did not make the place just a run-down old store. Every inch was covered in books of all kinds with even the most specific kind of information.

Kakashi though, just headed for the back.

Sakura followed him curiously peering down the curtain to see picture after picture, book after book with either lewd titles or graphically adult images on the cover. Every picture flashed quickly in her mind before giving way to something much more solid, and way too real.

_He was brutal in the way he touched her, __**attacked **__her. He seemingly got no pleasure from it; his face looked in pain, his eyes on hers the entire time. He was grunting with effort in a manner that revolted Sakura in a way that was almost worse than the woman's screams._

"_Stop! __**Stop! **__Please don't hurt me!"_

_Not too long later, the screams stopped. That was the worst part._

Sakura's hands were clammy, her body stinking of fear in a way that in a way that a sensitive nose could pick up.

"Are you alright?"

Sakura looked up at Kakashi's voice, willing herself under control.

"I'm fine." Kakashi nodded, taking her at her word.

She did not move until he had picked his book and headed towards the counter, and he pretended not to notice. Then Sakura's curiosity took hold, and she found herself drawn to an infamous orange novel.

_Here goes nothing._

_A/N - I know that it isn't obvious what's going on yet, but…. I will be updating more frequently, as I have got a new laptop! *yay*. _

_R&R Guys! xx_


	6. Books Marvelous Books!

The village was small but it turned out that they had many small shops like the bookstore they had just left. All of them had broken, run down exterior that covered up the quality of the rare goods they held inside. It was the people outside that explained why.

Walking languidly in their half asleep states, Team 7 moved through the cramped area to their 'hotel'. They were greeted at the door by a 40 odd civilian woman who made Sakura feel downright well-dressed. She wore a full face of makeup, fluffy slippers and an extravagant silk dressing gown. Her hair was held up by bright pink rollers entwined in her brunette locks.

Her eyes were glancing over Kakashi like he was something to eat.

"Hello, and welcome to sweet dreams. I hope you will have a very _pleasant _stay here." She glanced Kakashi up and down. He flicked a page of his book. The woman ushered them all forward to a polished mahogany desk, standing directly in front of the copy ninja. "My name is Valerie and if you have any queries about either the establishment or the surrounding area, feel free to come talk to me, regardless of the time of day." Her eyes slid back to the copy ninja again. "I'm on the third floor, last room on the right."

She reached into a mahogany drawer and pulled out some keys.

"How many rooms will you be needing?"

Kakashi tilted his head towards Naruto and Sasuke who exchanged a quick glance.

"Three." Sasuke replied. She passed the keys quickly then led them upstairs to the second floor, where she deposited Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto in their rooms, before leading Kakashi up to the third floor.

Sakura waved at the boys from her open door before shutting it and glancing around the thoroughly unremarkable space. The walls were a clean pure white, but the paint did not disguise the cracks that ran across the skirting boards and the corners of the ceiling. Behind the bed, where no one other than a ninja would check, the wall had not been painted; apparently the room used to be a deep burgundy. Concealed by the wardrobe were patches of damp. The bathroom was small and that was all that could be said about it. Sakura nodded her head as she placed her pack on the floor. This room would suffice.

888

Kakashi had started zoning out again, and internally sighed as he brought his thoughts back into the present. To be fair, her voice was tedious while attempting to be husky and alluring. It wasn't working for her. Neither was the way she was reclining back so that she was leaning against his bed post.

She clearly knew no subtlety.

"…the bathroom has a tub as well as a shower, in case you want a long… hot… soak…" Her voice trailed off, her fingers rubbing against the side of her neck.

"Have you been bitten by something?"

"What?" He pointed to her neck.

"You kept rubbing at your neck. You don't have any pests here do you?"

"Absolutely not! I-"

Kakashi watched in amusement as the flustered woman hurriedly excused herself. Then he did as she suggested, and took a long… hot… soak.

Alone.

888

It was an irritating blonde that disturbed him just as he was drying off, with shouts about needing food.

Kakashi sighed; gone were the days when as kids Sakura would have shared a room with the boys, and could have got him some food herself. Sasuke was too lazy to do anything like find something edible, or stop Naruto involving their Sensei in his food rampages.

The hypo-ninja better be paying.

And the journey better take them past the bookshop. Ms Wannabe-Sexy had ruined the last novel for him.

888

A couple of dozen bowls of something definitely not ramen saw them to the store just before closing time; Naruto insisted that they stay and watch him eat quadruple the amount that they did. The ridiculous thing was that they would probably stop for a few take out bowls on the way back. Naruto really was a glutton.

Kakashi was once again in the back of the shop, as was a certain pink haired young lady. _I thought she hated my books. _He watched her discreetly using his peripherals while he 'examined' a book that he'd already read. In case small talk led her to ask about it.

Her shoulders were hunched over, and her teeth were obviously clamped down on her lower lip. Every now and then she would flick to a new page and would study it with a fierce curiosity before zoning out again.

All in all, she was being rather… odd.

And not in her usual way.

Kakashi moved to stand behind her, his nose almost brushing her ear. She was zoned out again, and her skin pale and clammy. She wasn't looking at the book at all.

And it was an image meant to be appreciated. A threesome angled perfectly to show all the necessary parts, the main focus on the well endowed brunette laid between two black haired men. The light from the window behind them shone directly onto the woman, highlighting her face and breasts. It was a painted image of the highest skill, so lovingly detailed. It must have taken hours.

"Exquisite isn't it?"

Sakura jumped, and felt her back brush against the man behind her; Kakashi had been reading over her shoulder. She blushed and look down at the page she had open.

"Um…yeah." her tone was surprised; she hadn't realised that these images could be beautiful, but it was. The image was so… soft, while portraying something that was definitely not.

"_Please! Stop!" Her pleas were at their loudest now, her eyes scrunched shut. The cold waters of devastation fell anyway, but it did not really matter._

_Tears would not stop her tormentor._

_As she realised this, her eyes opened focused and clear. She did not scream anymore._

Sakura inhaled quickly, and flinched forward as her body hit the warm solid one behind her. She reached out for a random book, trying to pass that off as her original intention. It was not unnoticed by Kakashi.

He moved forward and reached over her shoulder for another novel.

"How about this one?" He picked up another copy and studied it briefly. This would do. He placed the first book back on its shelf and purchased the other one, leaving the store with a plain paper bag. A few minutes later, so did Sakura.

The journey back to the hotel was rather quiet and uneventful. Once they had passed the restaurant; Naruto was preoccupied by food. Sasuke was his usual quiet self and Kakashi had his masked face buried in the pages of his new book. Sakura was itching to do the same, but didn't dare. She would wait until she was alone.

The sun had started to set and instinctively all four ninja heightened their senses, becoming more alert and aware of the trees as they passed, of any movements in the shadows. They were looking for signs of their contact as much as anything. Only Kakashi would meet with him, but now that they were at the village they would need a time and place. They also had to be wary of any enemies; their mission was an important one and if anything had leaked their enemies would likely be aiming for death.

Preoccupied as they were, the walk went quickly and they were back at the hotel before they realised it. As it was dark and they had not found their contact they had little to do outside, and there wasn't anything social that was particularly appealing indoors. Naruto and Sasuke went to look around the hotel facilities and Sakura and Kakashi simply bid them goodnight before heading back to their rooms.

888

"Seems rather odd for this place to have a swimming pool don't you think? I mean, I understand the hot spring, it's natural so she might as well make something from it but-"

"Shut up dobe. Maybe this place is more popular in summer. Or maybe the woman just wanted a pool."

"Or maybe she was just showing off her crappy hotel."

"Maybe you're just being rude."

"Maybe Sakura's rubbing off on you."

"Shame _you're_ too dense for that to happen."

Sasuke then felt a fist against his head.

"Your punches are still weak dropout."

"I passed!"

"Not via exam."

"I'm Jonin!" Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "I am! And promotion through kicking ass is much better than examination anyways! BeLIEVE IT!"

Sasuke gestured towards the pool.

"Wanna swim?"

"Wha-" Naruto flopped onto the floor and crossed his arms. "I didn't bring any trunks!" Sasuke smirked.

"Sudden modesty, little girl?"

Splash!

Naruto was already in the pool.

R&R Guys!


	7. Chapter 7

Kakashi perched on Sakura's windowsill, looking in intently. The woman was perched on the corner of her bed, one leg bent up and out, her ankle resting on the thigh of the other. She had clearly bathed as her reed silk pyjamas were accessorized by the fluffy white towel containing her hair. A couple of dripping pink tendrils had escaped, and the droplets were cascading down, causing clear pathways along her smooth neck, but not raising chills. She had a book open and held forward so that no water would drip on it. Engulfed as she was, Kakashi was certain that she would not notice him.

It was pitch back now outside and Kakashi's thankfully hidden nose was slightly pink form the cold. He shifted from his crouch to a sitting position and wrapped his arms around his knees.

"I'd have liked to believe that you would notice me." Kakashi tilted his head back to glance at the dark haired man.

"Barely recognised you without the bat cape." He jumped down and landed directly in front of his comrade. He held his hand out. The report was handed over and after a quick once over was placed into his jacket.

"If you could find out anything more on Ichigo that would be great."

"There's another village around 80 miles north. Try there."

And with that Itachi disintegrated in a mass of crows. Second later, they too were gone.

To everyone's dismay, they next day was spent travelling.

888

"This could be exactly the same as the last village we were in!" Sakura sighed. Naruto's stupidity really knew no bounds.

"If you look slightly more carefully you would see a totally different landscape. The trees here are healthier and the ground is slightly moe moist; there is more rain here than the previous town." Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah, the huge mountains over there could be a good indicator too." Kakashi gave Naruto a happy eye crease.

"You should be slightly more observant you know."

"Wha-!"

Sasuke and Sakura groaned.

They couldn't get to the hotel fast enough, and when it finally came into view the sight was met by three happy exhales of breath and one excited "Believe it!" Followed by four sets of feet speeding up.

This hotel was slightly better kept than the last one; there was no damp and the walls were fully painted. Bathroom was larger too, Sakura noted with a smile.

After a long shower, where the hot water didn't run out Sakura wrapped a towel around herself and went back into the bedroom. Sakura laid back on her bed with one leg propped up holding a brown paper bag. She had already glanced at the first one, and one of the two she had bought during her second trip to the shop but hadn't got t o the third; the one with the picture that she had admired so completely. Sakura had not realised when she picked up the book that the cover image was one if similar excellence.

The cover image contained a couple, but was certainly suitable for the general public's eye. A man with closed eyes had his head turned in profile, his lips pressed lovingly to the neck of the woman he held in his arms. He had her hand entwined loosely in his hair, and her shoulders were hunched inwards slightly, holding him to her. Her head was thrown back and her face serene. Her eyes were shut rather than scrunched and her moist red lips were parted. She was positioned face on, but her body was hidden by the man's. The background was a washed out red.

Sakura opened it to the first page and began to read, the images and words conflicting with her mind.

_**His eyes roved over her body intensely, sending shivers down her spine and heat to her core.**_

"_**You're beautiful." He proclaimed truthfully, his hands moving appreciatively over her soft skin, his mouth dipping to kiss her sweet mouth. His tongue pressed against her lower lip, begging for entrance. She parted her lips hesitantly and their tongues entwined, fanning the flames up to new heights and sending both or them delirious with desire.**_

She's heard from friends and colleagues about their sex lives, but had always tried to zone out and nod along, not allowing them to see through to her silent dispute. How could an act of violence and selfishness be pleasurable for both parties, if either? How could stealing something from someone so intimately be an act of loving?

_She did not scream anymore._

"_**Come for me, Harriet." He breathed intimately against her ear, his mouth tugging insistently on her lobe. "I want to feel your pleasure." Moments later, Harriet let loose around him, her body convulsing around his stiff, throbbing cock, her head bent back as she cried out his name.**_

Sakura kept reading a while longer, not really keeping track of time. When she realised that the sky had turned to ebony with an opal gem, she closed her book and shivered, her arms curling around her body. She scrubbed herself down quickly and dressed, swapping her usual camisole and short for a long sleeved top and baggy sweatpants. When the boys came charging in due to Naruto's midnight munchies, Sakura stayed in bed. She wasn't very hungry.

888

Kakashi was sat on the roof. It was odd, he realised, that the only real plus side to this mission was that they could spend some time in hotels sleeping rather than camping with someone on watch and he found himself sitting outside in the cold. He ought to be taking advantage of the accommodations as much as possible, especially since this mission was borderline S-rank, and all expenses would be billed to Tsunade, who he needed revenge against anyway; she had told him that he needed to be there six hours earlier than he actually did, just so that he wouldn't be late. Of course, he still had been.

So he might as well go find some food as he hadn't felt like a Naruto rampage earlier, and he doubted his pink haired team mate had either. Naruto was difficult to deal with on a good day, and today was certainly not one of those. Paired with Sakura's current demeanour, he would place bets on her pretending to be asleep. No one sane could blame her.

Though the village was small, there was some choice, and Sakura was woken up to a mixture of Chinese, Indian and Pizza by her rather insistent Sensei who was claiming that he hadn't seen her eat properly in almost a week. He was definitely exaggerating, but his point got across and they enjoyed a rather lengthy brinner (breakfast and dinner; after eating all of that neither of them would be able to manage breakfast) with some light hearted conversation and pleasant company. By the time they had finished, both of them were much more relaxed, and when Kakashi got back to his bed, he was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Breakfast was still a lengthy event the next day; Naruto could only inhale food so fast. And this was probably good thing - the longer he spent eating, the longer they went without his input.

"We'll only have two more days here at most, so if we could spend this morning picking up supplies…" Kakashi shrugged form behind his book. He glanced sideways at Naruto. "Especially you, Naruto."

"I'll just get stuff on the way back."

"Then we'll leave you behind."

"I'll catch you up." Sasuke smirked at him.

"You probably wouldn't' be able to."

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go get a head start. Remember to keep your eyes and ears open for information."

And with that, Kakashi left in a poof of smoke.

A/N - Teehee, another chapter J I couldn't help but giggle when I wrote the book extracts :P Whenever I read anything like that it seems exaggerated for shits 'n' giggles. This probably shows through when I write it. Looking back, my chapters all seem incredibly short, so I will probably try and lengthen future ones.

R&R Guys J


	8. Kakashi is gay?

They stopped in at the hotel again on their way back. They would be travelling through the cold for several days, camping on the hard floor of caves, so the comfort here was one that the were not going to pass on, regardless of the _company_ here.

Kakashi had to do his damn best to keep this thought in his head as he tried to hurry dear old Valerie along with their room keys, something that was not an easy feet. The woman could ramble on for years about absolutely nothing, and unfortunately for him 'absolutely nothing' included every lame pick up line in the book, and the giggling form behind him said that Sakura and Sasuke had absolutely no pity for him.

This could count as a gross case of insubordination.

They unsurprisingly got exactly the same rooms as before, and she decided to see them there, and Kakashi had to put up with an extra hour or so of her dreadful efforts before he could be rid of the damned woman. God, she irritated him. She had changed her appearance somewhat form last time, and he sure hoped that it wasn't for his benefit. She had put on some badly trimmed false eyelashes, that were too wide for her, her lips had darkened to an even deeper red and her nails had been extended and freshly manicured. With the way her nose was pinched, she looked like a terrifying dragon.

Forget the seven swordsmen. They were _nothing_ compared to this.

"And stay out," he mumbled, pushing the door shut behind her. He flopped onto his bed, opening his book in front of his face. There was absolutely nothing productive to be done now, other than lying about like slobs. Naruto and Sasuke would probably be perfectly happy about that, he mused. Maybe he would go annoy a certain pink haired woman a while later.

Sakura had become something more of an anomaly to him. He could admit that he'd never really tried to find out much about her, and as he rarely offered any information about himself it would probably be wrong to probe her for answers.

From that conversation years ago, when he had first met her he knew that her uncle and cousins were dead, but as these were the family members she offered up to him, her parents had presumable not died form those events. They had been dead for a while, that much he knew as he had never met them while looking after their daughter; Sakura had lived alone whenever he had visited her as a teacher. So they had died before she had graduated from the academy.

Were they already gone at the time he had met her? She had grown up arm in arm with Sasuke and Naruto, both of which were orphans, so this was likely. But what had killed them? He was unsure of her mother, but her father had been a ninja, and usually the entire village would mourn the loss, regardless of dying from battle or a heart attack. The dead were honoured.

He thought back to his own parents' death, so long ago. They hadn't been, and this still struck up some bitterness deep inside him. Only if the death was considered 'disgraceful' or distasteful in anyway were details omitted. Of course, usually the tales would come from the mouths of grieving relatives and team mates. Sakura would have been to young to really understand, and wouldn't really have been expected to. They wouldn't have babied her, they seldom did with ninja, but they would have respected her space. Children were difficult to deal with and ninja's sometimes lacked subtlety while talking to them.

Kakashi made his mind up to search through the files once they got back to Konoha, and as usual felt his usual state of calm blankness wash over him once he had made the decision. The different branches of his mental spider diagram vanished and he realised he was getting slightly peckish, and judging by the clock beside him, it was definitely time for some food.

There wasn't as much choice as in the previous town, but there was no way in hell that Kakashi was going to opt for room service, and the thought of Valerie's squinty eyes was enough to persuade him to keep trying. His renewed determination found him somewhere that wasn't a health hazard, and 20 minutes later he was sat in Sakura's bed filling his gob with prawn balls dipped in sweet and sour sauce. Sakura thankfully liked Chinese too, and was stuffing her gob in a Naruto like fashion with spring rolls. If she ever decided to diet near him again, he would be sitting directly next to her with a jumbo sized spring roll, absolutely caked in sweet and sour sauce.

See how long she'd last then.

Kakashi smirked as he pulled the bag of prawn balls out of her reach, simultaneously lifting two spring rolls. He really did find it amusing to aggravate her; her reaction were just so entertaining to watch.

Sakura made a swipe for the spring rolls, back and forth over and over before plucking the bag of prawn balls out of his hand. Now that would not do. Sure, there was another bag, but that was really not the point, and those who stole form him _would_ pay for it. Grinning beneath his mask, Kakashi pinned both her arms above her head. He could not reach the bag without moving one hand, but if he did then Sakura would be free to attack.

The moment he took t o consider his strategy was a moment too long, and he found himself pinned below the slender woman, as she straddled his waist and opened the bag.

"I'm gonna have to eat _all_ of them now, you know that, right?"

Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and gave her _the look_. "Yeah, well, there's another bag."

"So why did you feel the need to fight over this one?"

He shrugged, glaring at her. "I don't know. Maybe I just like it when you sit on me."

The sentence had it's desired effect, as Sakura coloured bright red and clambered off of him clumsily, muttering something about lousy perverts. Honestly though, she had been getting a little too close for comfort. When a woman sat _there _what did she really expect? She should be flattered that it wasn't flat out disinterest.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!" Yeah, like her. Valerie could try all she wanted, but would never achieve the effect of anything remotely attractive.

"Where are you-?" He asked Sakura in confusion as she hurried out of the door. What on Earth was she doing leaving her room at quarter to eleven?

"A woman is screaming, and you wander where I am going?" She gave him a withering look. "I swear, you spend too much time around Naruto."

As it turned out, it was Naruto's fault.

Or at least his and Sasuke's. The two of them apparently couldn't work out between them that there are certain times where it is probably sensible to lock the door, and when they are passionately engaging in friendly intercourse, that could be one of them. The sight that met Kakashi and Sakura when they got downstairs was one that they would definitely remember. Valerie was pointing at Naruto and Sasuke and hyperventilating. Her expression was one of such distaste that Kakashi wished that he wad pretended to be gay from the moment they walked into this crappy establishment. Really, it would have saved him a lot of bother.

"They, they !" Valerie moaned as if it agony, shuddering away from the semi covered couple.

"O, shut the fuck up, you damned homophobe!" Kakashi turned shocked to look at Sakura. She very rarely swore or shat on people's opinions, let alone with a stranger. Apparently her fierce protectiveness towards her team was worth more than politeness, and Kakashi smirked at her proudly, preparing his _gay_ voice that only usually saw an appearance on missions with Genma. It was incredibly camp, and an insult to gay men everywhere. It was perfect, however, for moments like this. He just had to hope that Izumo never came across him while he was using it. He wasn't quite as laid back about these things as his other half.

"Yes, I like get _so_ irritated with people like that! Jeez, if people would only knock there wouldn't even be a problem!" He placed one hand on his hip and shot an offended look at Valerie. Unfortunately for her, Sasuke caught on and decided to ,erm, _lend a hand_.

"Does that mean you're staying tonight, Kakashi?" His look was sultry and would send his fan girls into a fit. His dark eyes slid their way up Kakashi's body, and Valerie was gone quicker than they could say 'You're not welcome here'.

"Nicely done," Kakashi grinned at his student, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I can't thank you enough."

Sasuke smirked and winked. "When we see some fan girls, you can return the favour." He then looked down at Naruto, who was looking rather confused. "If you two could go now…" He gestured at Kakashi and Sakura who quickly found their way out the door, Naruto's voice floating out before the could close it behind them.

"I didn't know that Kaka-Sensei was gay!"

Sakura snickered as they found their way back upstairs. "How long do you think it is going to take for everyone to know you've come out of the closet?"

Kakashi slid her a smirk in return. " I'll just fix it by telling everyone that I'm dating you."

"That wouldn't work since I'm taken."

"You could have broken up and just not told anyone."

She shot him a look that spoke volumes out his stupidity.

"My best friend is Ino. Of course everyone would know."

"Maybe she caught tonsillitis and can't spread gossip."

"She's a medic. What are the chances of that happening?"

"Fine, I'll tell her our _happy _news myself, and she'll spread it round for me."

"And then you'll be spending at least a week in hospital, under _my_ care, and I will not use chakra to heal you."

He sighed dramatically and hung his head miserably. " Fine. I'll just have to reinstate my reputation of being Konoha's number one womanizing pervert."

"Oh yes," Sakura nodded sadly. "That would be such a big loss for you."

"Ah well," He winked at her. " It would be a _very_ good thing for the single ladies of Konoha."

Sakura frowned slightly as her thoughts again took on a life of their own. Would he be rough, inconsiderate, brutal? Or would he be like the man in those books that he read like religion? Would he be gentle and kind? Sakura's cheeks flushed as she replaced the male role in her novel with her sensei.

Kakashi noticed this with a shocked confusion. Surely his prudish pink haired student was _not_ picturing him naked. That was slightly alarming as an idea, but the way her cheeks were blushing relayed the truth. Well, they were probably even now for his earlier reaction to her body. He was honestly lucky that he hadn't sprung one, and that was what stopped him from teasing her reaction now.

Yeah, they should probably just call it even.

A/N Whew, another update J (aren't you lucky!) My formatting usually gets killed by fan fictions, but I do believe that I may have fixed it! (Go me!)

R&R People!


	9. Fade Away

A/N - Whew this is a long chapter (well, for me it is) and it took a lot of time and effort. I have never written (or read) a sex scene like this before and hopefully that's not just because absolutely no one wants to read that. It is there for a purpose, and you shall see why slightly later on. J Also, I have managed to fix my formatting(I think) and will be editing previous chapters at some point soon.

Huge amounts of love go to MySoulIsYoursTakeIt, my lovely reviewer who has reviewed every chapter J Seriously, you make my day, and reading a review or having another subscriber always makes me want to update 3

Also, go check out milesreminisence (sp?) whose charming idea it was that Valerie would walk in on Naruto and Sasuke. She is an absolute babe XD

Reviews are gold guys, and I really want to know what you think!

This story is not beta'd.

ilygodot

I Care Chapter 9

As you might expect from the earlier events, the journey back was relatively uneventful. Naruto, on the fourth day of their return journey, finally got it through his thick skull that Kakashi was not gay, and was not wanting to have fun with him and Sasuke, and after that, they fell into their usual routine, and their usual split off pairs; Sakura and Kakashi, and Sasuke with Naruto. This was an old arrangement and one that suited the team - Naruto would usually complain if he was with someone other than Sasuke, Sakura's patience with him did tend to run low, and Sasuke and Sakura argued like siblings.

They were all worn down and irritable when they entered Konoha, and much too warm in their many layers that they had not slowed down to shed, so they were very quick to split their separate ways.

The sight of her familiar home, was always enough to cheer Sakura up after a long, horrendous mission. She would fling open the windows at the first moment she got, the fresh air mingling with the various other scents linked with her home in a way that highly revived her spirits. Next she unpacked her bag meticulously, putting everything in its correct places and put all of the clothes form her pack directly into the washing machine, topping it up with the few clothes that she'd had to leave in the hamper before she left.

She left the small laundry room, turning the light off behind her and walked through to her living room to stare at her bookshelves. They contained mainly medical texts or educational texts, but slightly under 50% were other fiction novels of every kind. She would absorb any novel, no matter how long or arduous, and didn't particularly have any specific genre. Or at least not until now. These books couldn't really be put here, where anyone could see them, but surely if anyone visited they would notice them anyway, so there was very little point in hiding them. It would only make her appear ashamed of her new hobby. So, the bedroom it was.

No one ever usually visited her room, and even if someone irritating did, that would most likely be Kakashi, would already knew about her current reading habits, or Torao, who she shouldn't feel uncomfortable around, not even when talking about pervy literature. She could talk to Kakashi about it, so she could damn well talk to him. Sakura stashed the three books in an empty container under her bed, and nodded her head as she resolved to finally have a look in Scandalous, a shop that Ino adored, but one that she had always been much too apprehensive to enter. The store sold many things other than books, such a lingerie and cosmetics. The store was mainly aimed at women, and this would hopefully mean that the novels and films she might find would be the stuff that she was looking for, the same kind of material that had just vanished behind the edge of her duvet.

Her phone was flashing its fully charged sign at her (she never took it with her on missions for fear that she would break/lose it/ give important numbers to enemies by accident. While she was gone she just kept it on charge so she could return any calls she had received it as soon as she got in.) True enough, once she had turned it on she found messages from Ino, Torao and Tenten. Only two from Tenten though, Ino and Torao didn't get the idea that she wouldn't be seeing the messages till she got back and constantly sent 'good luck on your mission' messages. Honestly it was sweet and all, but it did her head in.

After a brief reply to Tenten, and not so brief conversations with Torao and Ino, Sakura took a warm shower and contemplated what she ought to wear to see Torao. Honestly, she didn't know why she bothered; he wouldn't really see the effort involved, and was most impressed by her work clothes, purely because they showed her as someone 'suitable' for him to be with. So, she may as well jus shove on a paper bag.

888

Sakura glanced at the bathroom door for a moment before hastily fumbling one of the books out of the box. Surely it wouldn't be that bad, right? The people in the books certainly seemed to enjoy themselves and if half of what Ino said was true, non-fictional people liked it too. In fact, even according to Hinata, it was a sign that you liked someone and the moment you refused pretty much signalled the end of a relationship. Maybe it would bring them closer; she had heard numerous stories about how having se with a man had caused a woman too fall in love with him. Or wouldn't it be better to be certain of her feelings before trusting him with her body?

She was just nervous, that's all it was. She wasn't used to having people with her like _that_ and it was only natural that she would be.

God, it was a good thing that she put on matching underwear when she got dressed earlier! That could be awkward… at least she looked presentable. Looking at the images in the book, Sakura wondered if Torao could see as something like that. All of the woman here had different features, hairstyles, colours. Would she look like this when he took her? Or would she be hurt?

Tensing as she heard the shower shut off, Sakura bit her lip as she hurriedly slipped the book back under the bed, he eyes wide as she turned to look at the door. She really should have shut it, so that she would have more time to compose herself before he got back in, but she hadn't really thought that far. That would have been the precious second she needed to school her expression, damn it. Torao walked through the door, and Saura sincerely hoped that he hadn't caught her guilty look. He would probably want to know why. Despite her earlier internal claims, the only person she would tell about _that_ was Kakashi. This man was definitely not him. Knowing Torao, he would probably either find it demeaning or an invitation to just use her as a sex toy, neither of which she wanted.

She had been with Torao long enough now to hopefully not worry about that. He was often overly considerate, something that could not really be considered a fault. If he was as consistent as he was in other things, this would be fine. She relaxed slightly.

Torao moved towards her predatorily, his arms caging her in, and one hand moved to her jaw, pulling it roughly towards his. He pressed his lips to hers over and over, pulling her head closer then relaxing his grip as he chose how to make her reciprocate.

"You could help out you know," He murmured against her mouth. He pushed slightly harder against her mouth, pushing his tongue in and following what she had read Sakura stroked her own against it and sucked. He moved on top of her on the bed, one arm fully wrapping around her mall form, the other resting against her cheek. He groaned slightly into her mouth and Sakura placed her hands against his neck. With her eyes closed, Sakura focused on the way he felt against her, kissing her. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't anything to talk about yet. In her books the women had been turned on by this, their bodies preparing for the inevitable. She didn't feel that. Maybe once he was touching her it would be different.

Torao moved his hand from her jaw downwards, squeezing one shirt covered globe before sliding under her shirt to stroke the smooth skin, run his thumb over her sooth breasts and flick his thumb over her bra clad nipples. Sakura moaned very lightly at the jolt he sent through her by touching her hard nipple; from the cold rather than his previous ministrations. His hand grabbed greedily onto one and he pressed more of his weight on top of her as he tongue slid forcefully in and out of her mouth. He moved the hand behind her down to grab her ass, the other finally moving down from her chest to reach into her pants and slid through the pink curls that led to her cunt. He slid his fingers over her, rubbing with definite contact, but Sakura didn't feel anything except the contact being… just that. He was touching her, and she could feel it, but that was all. He began to pant quite hard as he pulled away to look her in the eye as he continued but Sakura didn't know how he wanted her to react. He had moved his fingers down to her entrance, but his random jerky movements didn't properly penetrate her and half the time missed, his nails grazing the skin around her hole. What the fuck was he doing? He wasn't a virgin, Sakura knew that. Was this how it was supposed to feel?

Sakura tried to let out a moan and closed her eyes again, tipping her head back against her pillows. Was there something wrong with her? She tried to concentrate on the feel of him there, of how it felt to be touched like that, but he moved away before she could fully lose herself completely. He pulled his button open and jerked his zipper down, looking her in the eye with a look that Sakura vaguely registered as desire.

"Can you do something for me baby?" Sakura nodded quickly, her teeth burying into her bottom lip again. She moved up so that she was resting on her heels, her legs tucked beneath her. She touched him curiously, stroking him with a soft grip that she hazily remembered ought to be tighter, but for some reason didn't change it.

Torao groaned a little and shifted his hips, so he was reclined back into a more lying position.

"Think you could suck me, baby?" Sakura looked up at him and saw him expression that was expectant and slightly excited. Well, she didn't really have a reason not to… though it _did _seem quite rude to ask. She looked down at it, deciding that it definitely would _not _all fit in her mouth. He wasn't exactly small, and she was not experienced.

She bent down, her hands coming to rest on his thighs to hold herself up, and swirled her tongue around his tip before licking up the leaking precum as she had seen the girls do in her books. She carried on licking him, teasing him she hoped, but it wasn't very long at all before he pushed her head down onto him, so that him hips also thrust up into her mouth. Sakura got the message, and he thankfully let go a few minutes later as she bobbed her head up and down as much as she could, gagging slightly as he pushed a little too far back. Lifting her head higher, she sucked around his tip and then lifted her head off to stare up at him.

Torao reached forward and pulled her shirt off hurriedly, her bra very quickly following it to land unceremoniously on the floor. The rest of her clothes followed before she could even reach out to touch him. He kicked his trousers and boxers down from where they still rested on his legs before very quickly shoving his shirt off. In all of about two seconds he had got both of them naked and made a mess in her bedroom. He reached into the pocket f his discarded trousers and pulled out a condom. Sakura watched curiously as he pulled it over himself, glancing back at her every couple of seconds or so. Surely her ought to be pinching the tip while he did that if sex ed was anything to go by? Well, he had done this before. Sakura sighed and leant back glancing around the room, through the curtains outside. It felt slightly awkward to just lay here and watch him. It wasn't that she was embarrassed at the idea of a condom, just embarrassed when it came to staring at someone.

He was back next to her a minute later, hastily brushing his lips over hers as he placed himself between her legs. He tilted her hips slightly, pulling her closer to him and then she felt his blunt tip pushing against her. He wasn't making any progress, and kept shifting against her as he tried to lodge himself inside. He sighed looking at her.

"Come on, lets switch positions. It'll be better that way, trust me."

Biting her lip, Sakura did as he asked, moving out from underneath him so that he could lay back before straddling him. She placed herself above him and shifted her hips back and forth against him, trying to get him inside. Surely this ought to be easier? He placed his hands on her hips and thrust up against her, eliciting a cry of discomfort from companion as he forced his tip inside her. He kept it up, jerking against her and Sakura felt small amounts of pain and discomfort as he stretched her. She wasn't ready, was nowhere close to aroused enough to take him comfortably. He kept moving, almost halfway in now, pushing her down as he thrust up. She felt forced open, wasn't wet enough to help him move smoothly.

"Ah… It… hurts slightly…" She gasped out, clutching his hands still. His lips lifted up again.

"Come on, baby. Look there's just a little more to go. Just get me in completely." How dare he! Inner Sakura was on the verge of rampage at his unrepentant tone, but outer Sakura just gritted her teeth and pushed down, helping him. At least he might get something out of this. Finally her hips became flush with his, and she moved backwards and forwards slightly, attempting to adjust to him. This wasn't that bad, but it wasn't exactly wonderful. She couldn't really move comfortably yet, and the way he jerked upwards was too rough. Letting out a light whimper, she suggested they switch back to the way they had been positioned before. After a few minutes of moaning, he relented.

He pushed inside her quickly this time, but her entrance still felt a slight strain as he moved too hard. He moved quickly, forcefully and even if precision was something ANBU were prided on, his precision here wasn't quite good as he couldn't fully control himself at this speed, force and lack of rhythm and so he kept having to realign himself. This really wasn't what her novels wrote it out to be; she didn't feel a sense of pleasure and satisfaction. He wasn't touching her other than his penis inside her. He wasn't kissing her as he moved.

After only a few more minutes, he gave up and Sakura didn't bother to stop him as he manoeuvred her onto her hands and knees. His thrusts were slightly slower now, but much, much harder as he literally slammed his dick inside her. She felt herself grow tired and a flat feeling envelop her as he kept up his reckless pounding. He was still rubbing against her, something she was certain she ought to have adjusted to by now; he must have been going at it for nearly 45 minutes now, and she could already tell that she was going to be sore for longer than the morning after. After a particularly vicious thrust, she moaned out his name, breathy and high pitched as her body shook from the force of it.

This seemed to encourage him as he moved even harder, one hand drifting downward to touch her clit, but it had absolutely no effect. Her body felt languid, ready to crash down and sleep despite the lack of effort on her part.

Well, at least she had put the effort in at the beginning. She couldn't help but feel rather… let down. He wasn't doing anything really, except having sex with his girlfriend and Sakura realised that he didn't exactly deserve to be cold shouldered for that, but she couldn't help but wish he had done something _more_ beforehand. If only he had managed to arouse her properly before getting his dick out, this could have gone so much better.

Sakura sighed, and pushed her legs closer together as he pulled out again. She didn't really want him to put himself back inside her, her body felt lax enough already.

"Ah, Sakura?" She turned round to look at him drearily.

"Mmm?"

"I-um, I mean… the condom's broke, but I haven't come yet so… I'll just go put another one on shall I?" He moved off the bed and Sakura rolled onto her side, covering herself with her duvet. How was that not a problem? That could quite easily get her pregnant, as a medic she knew that. Did that not bother him? It truly amazed her how immature a man could be, a man who had slaughtered and protected, and was apparently either so damn selfish or emotionally redundant to realise she was shocked by this, and upset. Tears sprung to her eyes and she blinked quickly to try and hide them as he cam back to her.

"Are you alright?" She nodded mutely. "You look like you're crying. Are you upset 'cause the condom broke?" Honestly, this man was being thicker than Naruto on a bad day!

Try as she might, the tears kept clouding her vision, and Torao eventually realised that he probably wasn't going to get anything from her voluntarily.

"Don't worry, Sakura, I didn't come." He looked at her, pulling the duvet away to see her face. "Is that what's upsetting you?"

"I could still get pregnant from that you ass!" She couldn't' explain the rest of it, but her emotions boiled over at him now, this being the final straw. She didn't want him to touch he again. This wasn't what she had wanted by a long shot.

He studied her carefully for a moment, before shaking his head. "Fine we won't do it." He walked over to the bin to deposit the condom, and quickly got back next to her. "You know a jutsu for birth control, right?"

Sakura nodded and moved her hands to create the symbols.

"How effective is it?" he seemed much more concerned now. Did he really not know that precum could get a woman pregnant? Was he STUPID? Apparently so…

"Its not absolute, obviously, but its generally effective," She mumbled quietly, feeling slightly better as she completed her jutsu. He placed his head in his hands staring at her with a wary expression.

"But what if it doesn't work? I'm not ready to be a dad! I'm not ready to have kids!"

Sakura found herself reaching out to pull him to her and wrapped her arms around him in a gentle embrace. She didn't know why she still felt this urge to comfort him, but she did. He acted like a child, and there was a part of her that instinctively went to comfort anyone who appeared distressed, and this part of her wanted to calm him down, even while all of the other Sakura's were screaming that he deserved it, that it was his fault, that she should dump his ass. This side of her often won.

"It's fine," She murmured into his hair "I won't be, ok?" She rocked him gently and he pulled his arms around her, burrowing into her neck. "The chances are incredibly low, and…"

"I've ruined everything, haven't I?"

"No, you haven't." Not for the reason he thought.

Sakura sighed and leaned back into his embrace, her breathing evening out and her body relaxing long before sleep overtook her. This was what she wanted, what she liked about being with someone, especially Torao. She felt comfortable lying here in his arms, and the feel of having someone completely wrapped around her was something so exquisitely _safe_ and _calm_ that she never wanted to move. Usually if they were watching a film or something Torao would get restless, keep fidgeting or wanting to get up and move about, but now he was still and she loved it. She could ignore the tight, but still empty feel inside her and embrace the lethargic feel of her tired muscles and of a man so close to her. This part felt right.

She smiled when she awoke before him the next morning, face to face with his relaxed expression. The sun hadn't fully risen yet, and the half light made him look gentle and serene. Stroking his face lightly, Sakura sat up and moved out of bed, disturbing him as little as she could. God, she needed a shower.

A/N - I know, _another_ author's note. But I just felt the need to say that this chapter is rather…bipolar, if you can get a bipolar chapter, and probably needs some explanation. It will probably become clear later on, but my emotional writing tends to get too many layered and if you ask a question (nicely) I will try and answer it when I put the next chapter up. I've already started writing it :P

R&R


	10. Scandalous

A/N - The characters ages (if not previously stated, and I've just forgotten) are;

Sakura,Sasuke,Naruto - 22

Kakashi - 36

Torao - 27 (I know, he really is immature for 27, isn't he) Cheers for asking!

Chapter 10

Sakura felt her muscles relax as the warm spray hit her like tiny little pebbles. That analogy wasn't one that usually would bring an idea of relaxation, but it honestly did feel good. Her breasts were slightly tender from his groping, and her pussy was sore from last night. The water pattered down on her, applying slight amounts of pressure that immediately helped to ease aches. She sighed and leant back against the damp wall, her head moving sideways so that her cheek rested against the moisture that was gathering on her shower door. She felt shivery and warm, a strange concoction that made her feel uneasy. She had felt used last night, for reasons she herself couldn't really comprehend, and the mountains of possibilities and emotions crashed down on her suddenly. It would be wrong to dump someone over sex, wouldn't it? Then she wouldn't be any better than those perverts that her friends had always complained about, and who she had offered support over. She shouldn't have done it. She knew the answer now; you didn't make love to someone in the hope that it would bring you closer together. You waited until you were at a point when you only wanted to pleasure them. She wasn't at that point with him. He clearly wasn't at that point with her.

Sakura let out another light sigh as she moved directly under the shower head, tilting her face back and closing her eyes to feel the intense spray hit her cheeks, her lips, her eyelids. Shaking her head back and forth out of it, Sakura blinked the droplets from her eyes and shampooed her hair, her fingers running through that tangles that Torao had left it in. '_He even ruins my hair!' _Inner Sakura was almost going on a killing rampage, fighting against the other Sakura's who were trying to tie her up near the tribal fire that she had prepared to spit roast Torao on. She wasn't managing to escape, but at the same time the other Sakura's weren't trying particularly hard.

'_It could have gone a lot worse than it did.' _At least he had tried, no matter how much effort or lack of, the fact that he had tried surely meant that he cared, right? And having someone who genuinely cared about you was something that ought to be cherished, not everyone had that. Having someone that loved her meant a lot more than physical pleasure, even if she had somehow wired herself to believe that taking it upon yourself to please someone meant that you loved them.

_He seemingly got pleasure from her cries as after a while he began lo laugh as he moved towards her, a wide grin stretching his gaunt face his expression hungry as he stalked his prey. He wasn't touching her yet, and that was what confused Sakura the most. He didn't particularly enjoy what he did to her. _

_Only the effects._

She ought to be thankful that Torao didn't do anything to her, to hurt her. If he had, she didn't know what she would of done.

Well, deep down she knew. She would have killed him.

She was downcast enough already, but the fact that it could have been _that much _worse sobered her crumbling emotions. She cared about him. If she hadn't she would have already broken up with him, right? You didn't stay with someone if you felt you had no reason to, and the fact that she was still with him told her that there was a reason, that something kept her near him. He kept calling her, seeking her out, so there must be something that kept him with her too.

"Sakura?" Torao's voice broke through her thoughts, cutting her off and leaving her with the irritating feeling you get that something is missing, because you've just forgotten what you were just that second pondering. As a generally rational and tactical person, this didn't warm her to anyone.

Putting on a shy smile as she felt the heat rise to her face, Sakura rejected the urge to cover her body as he joined her in the shower; he'd seen plenty of her last night anyway. Pushing any thoughts of them out of her head, Sakura leaned in to kiss him and gave in to the moment. More pointless dithering would have to wait 'till later.

888

"So you finally did him? About time!" Sakura rolled her eyes at Ino's enthusiastic response.

"Yes, Ino. I finally _did _him. Because using that word makes it so much less obvious what we're taking about."

"How was it? Was he as _dayam_ good in the sack as he looks?" Ino's eyes glittered excitedly. "Give me details!"

"Why, is your sex schedule currently empty?" Ino pretend fainted, her face the epitome of shock.

"Unlike you, my sex schedule is _never_ empty for long… cause I am _hot_!"

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, pig." Said woman shrieked.

"Are you calling me unattractive?"

"I wouldn't touch you with a five foot barge pole."

"You'd be _lucky_ to touch me with a five foot barge pole!"

"Ever have a high opinion of yourself, pig? Or is that just me being stupid?"

"You being stupid, forehead girl! No one would go near you unless they had a forehead fetish!"

"I highly doubt that that even exists." '_Thank god. I don't particularly want to be the poster girl for anything remotely sexual.' _

"It might!" The rest of Ino's pointless drabble faded into the background as her vocal thoughts wandered off onto new tangents. She didn't expect Sakura to contribute for probably over 10 minutes now, so Sakura's non-verbal thoughts were free to run their own course. They were going shopping once they had found somewhere with what Ino called edible food (so very few calories) and should being going towards Scandalous. She had never dared enter the store before, apprehensive as she was of their stock, but Ino would probably be going in there anyway, as she seemed to think that underwear was one-use only… maybe she gave little lace panties away as souvenirs. She could take as long as she wanted today if it meant she wouldn't be interfering with Sakura's book hunt. Unlike Kakashi, she couldn't keep reading one book over and over again. She had a near-photographic memory when it came to reading, and once she had finished a novel for the second or third time she knew it word for word. Well, so would the copy ninja, but honestly he just loved to shock people and would sometimes henge the covers of books to appear as Icha Icha. What he was actually reading wouldn't be suitable for public consumption, but not many erotica books were as widely known as Icha Icha. Particularly here, where Jiraiya was infamous.

It was another 25 minutes before they found a restaurant for stick insects, and in that time Ino's tirade had not let up.

"… and then I just told him to get lost, because he was most definitely not the kind of guy I would _ever_ be begging for…"

Right…

When they finally got inside, Sakura was mildly happy that they had picked such an unpopular food source. This place would only usually appeal to civilians as ninja tried to stay healthy, and being a weekday between 9 and 5 most civilians were at work. So they had no queue to beat. Only advantage.

There wasn't much on the menu that Sakura could really consider edible, so she ordered Cheese, Red Onion and Leak pastries with what turned out to be the smallest portion of chips she had ever seen. Sure, chips weren't particularly healthy, but she needed energy if she was going to spend time with Ino.

She definitely wasn't gonna get that here.

Sighing ad resolving to pick up something from a street vendor while Ino window shopped (warmed up for shopping). They left the restaurant quickly, and wove their way through the small clusters of skiving kids and elderly civilians till they reached the blissfully empty shopping district. Scandalous was on the edge, where the shops started to meld into the clubs and slightly less _savoury _establishments. That meant that it would be a good few hours before they got to the store that was of interest to her. Well, this was a slight improvement on usual… usually she wouldn't even be excited about that - only having recently opened her eyes to an entirely different world. Sakura hated to go out socially in large groups and fashion was of no interest for her. The few civilian clothes she owned were only for missions really and were way outnumbered by her ninja attire and training clothes. Hell, she owned more pyjama's than dresses, and they weren't the height of fashion. They were comfy, and if she thought she could get away with it she would go do the grocery shopping in them. Along with her gorgeous pink kitty slippers.

Several shops later saw her exhausted, only marginally poorer and carrying three shopping bags containing some kunai she would probably never use in battle because they were pretty and she didn't want them lost or covered in some bastards blood, a dark red hairclip that was a good replacement for the one she had broken on her last undercover mission, and some well fitting trainers. Shoes wore out easily when you ran as much as 80 miles a day and in rainy climate that did not bode well. There were a fair few ventures near rain coming up soon, and her frozen feet would not thank her if she didn't replace her shoes first. She didn't like for people to touch her feet, particularly if there were many people around her so she had found out precisely what size that particular shop thought she was and bought three pairs of the same comfy soled trainers; black, red and white so that they at least matched her clothes a little. She wasn't fashion conscious but she wasn't blind either.

Scandalous was a large discreet store that had many departments for different items. On the ground floor you could see cosmetics and enhancers along with any joke gifts that may be desired by anyone not very adventurous. Books and DVD's could be found here, but as her books had been kept behind the infamous curtain in the other stores Sakura figured that they would be upstairs here. The first floor was definitely not for prudes, and the second floor held the lingerie. The elevator was made of a translucent pink glass, and there were women in it that blushed furiously as they passed this floor, eyes diverted away and backs half turned as if the might be recognised, but they kept peeking back at the horrific items. Many of the women who shopped for lingerie in here weren't looking for anything distasteful or obscene, and Scandalous provided a large range of high quality styles that persuaded *ahem* _upper class_ prudes to come shop here, some going as far as to wear extravagant head gear and glasses to hide their faces. Sakura definitely wasn't one of these women, but she had never stepped inside the store either, however her reasons were different. She was afraid of the products rather than the people.

It took another three hours to get Ino sorted, and in that time Sakura had found numerous books, including one on drawing, and a couple of DVD's of interest to her. She would be having a good relaxed _indoor _night tonight, unhindered by Ino or Torao and, hopefully, alone. She had some movies that required her attention, a drawing book that needed some practice and her bunny slippers were just begging to be put on.

A/N - Sorry, I know that that was the epitome of filler, but I kinda wanted to show some of Sakura's personality interacting with Ino and some of her apprehension leaving as she enters Scandalous. I would have made it longer, but I think we've got the process of selecting a book, and if I had gone onto the next part the chapter would have been about triple the length of any others. Sakura ate Cheese Red Onion and Leak bakes because that's what I was eating as I wrote it, thanks for asking XD

R&R


	11. Chapter 11

This looked more like a chimpanzee than a human.

Sakura huffed at the piece of paper, puffing her cheeks out, and a couple of seconds later it hit the bin.

She wasn't having much luck with this drawing lark, but after nearly 12 hours she hadn't stopped trying. The problem was, the images that she wished to pastiche were all realistic to the extreme, and academy level manga hadn't prepared her for these proportions or the level of detail involved. The forms hadn't been simplified, and she had to work from the very start of the book to gain the skills that such beautiful art required.

The shading was the hardest part. She could imitate shapes and outlines, but the moment she changed the direction of the light source she was lost as she had no reference. The only sensible way to this would be to use models, but she really wasn't good enough for anyone to see her efforts, and there weren't many people she could stand to be around, like that. Clothed people were one thing, nude figures were _very _different even if they were Naruto and Sasuke it would be awkward, henge or no henge.

She could ask Torao…

That thought rose to the front of her mind and she reached for her phone, distractedly speed dialling his number. For some bizarre reason he always picked up on the third ring.

"Hey, babe." Torao's low, sleepy voice crept into her ear, and she belatedly realised that it was half two in the morning. Oops.

"Hey honey!" Sakura's voice was extra soft and quiet as she forced herself to sound as polite and pleasant as possible. Torao wasn't the nicest person to talk to if you woke him up. One of the things that they had in common. She knew for certain that she wasn't any better and that was what kept her trying to be nice if he'd just woken. If he could be patient with her, she could return the favour. " Um… I'm really sorry for calling you so late, I really am. I hope I didn't wake you, or anything…"

"Oh, no hon, it's fine. I was waking up anyway." His voice was overly light, and he was definitely lying. She wouldn't call him on it. "What did you want, love?"

"What makes you think I wanted anything?"

"It's two thirty. Of course you want something… unless you jut love the sound of my voice."

"I- uh." Sakura paused for a moment and flushed slightly as she was hit by a sudden wave of embarrassment. "Um…"

"Is something wrong?"

"No! It's uh… I'!"

Torao laughed a little. "What? Calm down a bit! I couldn't understand any of that!"

She breathed in deeply. " I'm.. uh … _drawing_ and I was wondering if you could come over and model for me?"

"At two thirty in the morning?" Torao let out a throaty chuckle. Sakura sighed,; he was right, there was no way he- "Ok."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, sure. I have a few hours to kill now that I'm awake, so…"

"O-ok. Thank you." Sakura bit her lip. Had he honestly agreed to come over at two-thirty in the morning just so that she could draw him? It was an absolutely ridiculous idea and the fact that he had agreed to it was astonishing.

"I'll be right over." Through the phone Sakura could hear the unmistakable signs of Torao getting up before he hit the 'end call' button.

Sakura bit her lip as she scrambled off of her bed in her fluffiest slippers and what had to be the least attractive pyjamas on the planet. Time to play speed change!

It had been a little over a week since _that_ and he'd had a mission just afterward, and only got back the day before yesterday. Would he see this as an invitation, or just take it as what it was? Sighing, Sakura flicked through the rather tidy contents of her wardrobe and put on one of her less worn training outfits; she might not really want to dress up, but she didn't like looking like a complete slob either. Maybe, at some point, she ought to actually buy some different clothes. Maybe an extra baggy shirt for painting… Sakura didn't really know why it should be an extra baggy shirt, but it was just something she associated with painters and art students.

She was just putting the finishing touches to her 'casual' (In looks, not thought) outfit when Torao knocked gently and she went to let him in. Did he honestly have to be greeted at the door every time? She had already give him permission to come in if she already knew he was coming. Anyone else would take it as an invitation to come round whenever. But no, not Torao. He had to try and stay a stranger… asshole.

Sakura put on a bright, happy smile as she kissed him quickly and waved him in behind her. He slung the door shut behind him quietly, and it took him all of about three years to get it fully closed.

"I didn't want to wake anyone up." He explained. Sakura stared pointedly out of the window. The only neighbours she'd had in years had been blackbirds and ravens.

"Uhm good point…" He scratched his neck, one of the things about him that she found endearing and grinned. "Well, at least I was trying to be considererate!" His voice greatly resembled that of a deep voiced child.

'_considerate!' _Her inner chanted, sat in a deep pit making a spear. Who could guess what she wanted to use that for?

"Riiight, I need you to stand here." Sakura semi-turned to find Torao stood directly behind her wearing an expression that honestly raised little disgust and a little excitement inside her. She was afraid of these feelings and knew in the rational part of her mind that it was because she didn't fully understand. All of her instincts screamed at her to move away from him, but some unknown force kept her rooted to the spot where she stood. She didn't shy away from him at all, but merely looked him in the eye blankly, her expression unreadable and vacant. He leaned towards her, forcing her to tilt her head back to look him in the eye. Her gaze flickered downwards as he pulled something from his pocket, and she instinctively tensed in case it was a weapon.

He held the item by the attached fabric and waved it in front of her face. It was a camera, a fairly good one; the type used fro photography rather than drunken memories.

"Photos are more accurate than paintings don't you think?"

"That's great, but I wanted to draw you." He moved closer, pushing her backwards and she felt her back hit the wall. His mouth moved down to her neck, pressing open mouthed kisses all over it.

"This would be a lot more fun don't you think?"

"No, I don't actually."

He looked up at her for a minute before pulling his mouth away. "Why, don't you want to? I mean we don't have to take any naked pictures or anything, and it's not like I'd show them to anyone-"

"Torao, I just wanna draw you."

"Why? Can't you do that later?"

"It's why I asked you over."

He moved away a bit, his arms no longer preventing her from moving.

"What so you don't want me here? Or am I just here for virtually no reason except to _sit_?"

"I did ask if I could draw you, Torao-"

"But you don't want me to photograph you!"

"It's different," Sakura said stubbornly, ignoring the most often ignored of her inners that told her that, really, there wasn't much difference at all. Ideally, she had wanted him partially to completely naked.

"Yo!" A silver haired ninja waved from his position halfway in and halfway out of her window. "Is this a bad time?"

"Absolutely not!" Sakura chirped, smiling happily at him. "I'm always happy to see you Sensei!"

Torao's expression clearly said that he thought otherwise. His eyes were narrowed on Kakashi as if he were an opponent and his arms crossed in a faux relaxed and confident position. He knew he would never be able to beat up Kakashi, but he also highly doubted that the older man would do anything other than threaten him. Kakashi saw this and smirked beneath his mask. This kid had definitely got it wrong.

Torao moved closer to Sakura and put one arm around her possessively. " We were slightly busy though, so maybe you could come back later?" His tone was cool, and Sakura immediately moved out of his grasp.

"Don't listen to him. You're perfectly welcome to stay!" Sakura beamed at Kakashi who scratched the back of his neck, his eye creased as he tried to think of a safe response. Clearly he thought that Sakura was the more intimidating, as he gave in.

"Alright then."

Torao walked out of the room moodily, and shut himself in the bathroom, muttering about old men and inconsiderate, unloving girlfriends.

"Anything important?" Sakura asked Kakashi with a grateful smile. He nodded and crossed his arms, jerking his head in the direction of the bathroom door.

"Apparently so."

Her eyes narrowed slightly and her brow furrowed in a way that said she was on the defensive. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that there wasn't any reason until _after_ I got here."

Sakura gulped quickly. How much had he heard? Would he try and talk about it? Kakashi sensed her discomfort, and decided to let it pass. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It seems that you have found more books in my absence, and a couple of good movies too. I am absolutely _horrified_ that you have decided not to share them with me."

"Yeah," Sakura's cheeks heated. "And shall we go through _your _book collection as well?"

"If you really want to."

"Have you any idea whatsoever how wrong that is?"

"I hope you're not talking about your usual types of books." Both Kakashi and Sakura turned to the side to see Torao leaning against the door frame glaring angrily. " Because that would be highly inappropriate, and I sure hope that you'd keep acceptable student-teacher boundaries becau-"

"If you think she's a child, then why are you dating her?" The question came out probing, and slightly threatening. There was no way that Torao could just brush that one off with a joke.

Torao opened is mouth, but no sound came out, and he spluttered a little before walking out, still muttering, and moments later they could hear a thud as he shut the door with none of the respect that he had had for her imaginary neighbours on his way in.

Sakura bit her lip as she stared at the doorframe where he had been standing moments before. The proper thing to do would maybe to have helped him get rid of Kakashi and then again she probably shouldn't have been so disagreeable in the first place. He was her boyfriend.

"Don't feel bad. He'll calm down." Sakura looked up to see Kakashi's eye staring sincerely into her own, and it immediately made her feel better. He smirked at her, only really obvious by his raised cheek and crinkled eye. "Now, don't we have some books to be looking at?"

He moved away from her, and flopped onto her bed with his feet up, dragging the box out next to him. All in all, he didn't mind making himself comfortable. "Now, this looks very interesting."

The next couple of hours were spent glancing at pictures, words and exchanging light-hearted banter. The conversation flowed smoothly between them, as it always did, and it made Sakura feel happier and more at ease than she felt with anyone. She didn't feel anxious about the way she was behaving, if it was right or wrong. With Kakashi she didn't have to think about it at all.

After a while, they quietened down a little, focusing mostly on reading the books that they currently had hold of in a companionable silence. Kakashi was used to reading these novels in pubic, and could quite easily control any undesired effects, but Sakura couldn't. With every passing moment, she felt the heat rise to her face, and heat coil in _other_ places too. The most embarrassing part was that the book she currently had hold of wasn't even erotica, it was a romance book mostly read by women, and currently her favourite book in the world. The scene occurred near the end, and though not the smuttiest or most descriptive sex scene in the world, she read it over and over, feeling tears spring to her eyes and a warmth fill her at the care and gentleness that Zarek shows towards his virgin lover.

_That_ was ideally how Torao should behave around her, like her loved her. Like she was his rose. She felt a slight heaviness fill her when she thought of it like that, and that feeling hadn't gone away by the time that the sun had fully risen and Kakashi left, taking one of her more explicit books with him. Scratch that; highly explicit, and kept behind the formidable red curtain.

She was left with a feeling that people would usually interpret as arousal, but that her own naïve mind didn't automatically link with something that needed to be taken care of. Instead, she decided that she felt unclean, and went into the shower, wanting to clear off the flush that had formed, and the thin layer of moisture that had coated her body. The water was warm, and an amazing pressure that immediately sent her head reeling, feeling fuzzy. Without truly being aware of what she was doing, her hands started to slide over her skin, returning mainly to her breasts and neck before one hand slipped even further down.

There was nothing tentative in what she was doing, she moved purely on instinct, and a little on what her books had taught her. She was 22 and would have to be incredibly dense to the world around her if she hadn't even thought of this, or learned a little theory. She was wet, and her fingers slid easily as she felt around, exploring herself, which places to touch, and she whimpered as she slid one finger inside herself.

She moved it around, pressing against her walls as well as pumping in and out, and eventually got into a rhythm, sweeping up and in before dragging out, and when she slipped in a second finger, resuming her actions it only increased.

She had been curious about this, about how it was supposed to feel, and this felt better than what she had felt with Torao. A tiny part of her brain was telling her that that wasn't quite right, but she felt too good to listen. Pleasure coursed through her with every gentle touch she applied, and behind her closed eyes, it wasn't her own fingers inside her, or Torao's. They were longer, slim and clean, covered in black fingerless gloves.

Kakashi's.

A/N - Five stars if you know what book she was reading! It is an awesome book, and so is The Little Prince, which is where the reference to the rose comes from. We've finally got the first hints at something Kakasaku, so I'm pleased that this is finally getting actually into the story. I hadn't meant to put up so many chapters of background, but I wanted to get some stuff across and I broke off where I thought it would fit. I may go back and put all of the mission malarkey into one chapter.

Albatross Aoba - Umm, thanks for the review, but I copied that line direct from book one. Maybe take it up with Masashi Kishimoto? (It may be worded differently if you are from a different country. I'm English so maybe it's different.) I would have replied via PM, but FF told me you blocked PMs. Thank you for pointing it out though. I appreciate the effort.

Coach - Trainer, teacher, instructor


	12. Bonds

A/N - _flashbacks_

'_inner Sakura'_

Normal

_Emphasis_/ **emphasis**

…

It hadn't gotten any better. All Sakura wanted to do was throw him through a wall and watch his head crack, and yet she forced herself to tolerate it. The situation wasn't helped at all by her recently founded desire for her Jonin sensei. The only pleasure that she got came from moments thinking about Kakashi, and it only fed her resentment for Torao. She wasn't sure if he did everything she hated or if she hated everything he did, but she supposed it made very little difference. She hated spending time with him; he constantly grated on her nerves and left her feeling bitter. It obviously wasn't the same, but he found herself comparing Torao to _him_, and was never entirely pleased with the results. She couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something wrong.

It wasn't the same but she couldn't help but feel it was slightly similar, but then _anything _could be seen as similar. Strictly speaking, her books could be seen as similar; same subject matter. But somehow it was different when it was soft, gentle; and Torao fell into his own category somewhere in between.

His hand came up to maul her breasts, groping one before letting go, his fingers digging in slightly and pressing down before releasing in favour of gripping her waist, holding her in place so that he could fuck her. She had learnt, fairly quickly, that he preferred her to be entirely submissive, staying completely still for him until he tired out a little, and then she was to straddle him, keeping the straight up-down rhythm that he set while he hammered irregularly up into her unnecessarily hard. Nothing else; he guided her hips up and down in such a way that he didn't touch her in any of the places that would bring her relatively unaroused body any pleasure whatsoever. She had tried to force them into a more circular movement, only to have him complain that his dick 'is not meant to bend like that'. Honestly, she hadn't attempted anything to make it more pleasurable, or even more comfortable since, but rather resigned herself to doing things his way. Maybe that was just how sex was meant to be for her. Maybe the pleasured sighs, moans, caresses and kisses from her books and DVDs were only meant for the beautiful, the untainted people who had no such large regrets, who had no guilt over their heads. Not like her.

Torao's hand was palm down on her stomach, pushing her into the mattress roughly as his motions picked up pace, but Sakura barely noticed. Her focus was dimmed as she remembered, she wasn't even sure where it had come from, but something had triggered it to come to front of her memory.

"_Sensei, after you lost __**all**__ of them, how can you still form bonds with others? If you felt it was your fault, how could you trust yourself with another team? Or, for that matter, them with you?" Sakura's young, confused voice spilled her question, even though she knew that she probably shouldn't ask, and that he may be offended by it. Somehow she knew that he would still answer; when it came to the important things, he always did._

_He smiled warmly at her, but his eye was still marginally open with a crinkle in the corner, and something akin to friendship and adoration lit it. "Sakura," he began "at some point you have to realise… it is naivety and self destruction that allows people to punish themselves… for pain that they have already suffered." He placed a hand on her head, and instead of ruffling her hair as he normally would he smoothed it down, still smiling at her._

"_No matter how familiar that pain is to you, or how impossible you fee it may be, you have to let go."_

It was after that that she had fully reached out to Sasuke and Naruto, and she had found out precisely what the silver haired man had meant. There was no point suffering alone when they could be happy together.

That was what ha formed team 7, and when she thought about it, was likely why Old Man Hokage (may he rest in piece) had placed them together. So that they could create some non - destructive bonds.

Sakura jumped slightly as she felt a cool wind rush over her, and blinked back into reality to find a new sense of self worth rush through her, and Torao no longer on top of her. Instead the raven haired man was stood beside the bad and had probably asked her something because he was stroking himself while looking at her as if waiting for a response.

'_Oh, dear God…'_

His free hand reached out and stroked her face, and he'd obviously gotten bored of waiting for a response, that or he didn't care what it was, because he pulled her head forward and pushed against her, sighing in frustration a couple of seconds later when she didn't open her lips to allow him to thrust in.

"Come on, suck my dick, babe."

The endearment wasn't affectionate, but slightly mocking in a way that definitely stiffened her resolve, and her eyes narrowed at him. She pulled out of his grasp enough that he was no longer touching her.

"No. Finish your damn self!" His lips quirked up a little, as if ready to spread into a grin at her very funny 'joke'. Her own pissed expression did not change.

"You cannot be serious!" He exploded incredulously, and inner Sakura was doing a gothic Naruto impression, filing her long, black painted nails while hissing. _'Believe it, buster!'_

"Very." She replied, not allowing her serious expression to waver. "And you can go into the bathroom so I don't have to see it."

"What?" His incredulity turned cold. "You're my girlfriend, you-"

"Are you saying that I have to?"

"Yes, I am."

"…Because I'm your girlfriend?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't want to be anymore.

Get the fuck out!"

"Are you-"

"Serious? Hell yes. I clearly can't match your needs, and you don't even _care_ about mine." She exploded, all of her feelings let loose and left her to try in vain to control herself. All she could do was buy time until she hurt him.

She blew out a long breath and repeated. "Now get the fuck out."

She couldn't feel anything other than relief as the door slammed loudly, the glass shattering. She was putting things right.

…

This still didn't cause the anger and malevolence she kept buried to fade. Until it either faded through time or she found somewhere else to channel it (one of the main uses for her training with chakra) it would continue to eat at her, ready to explode. Clenching her jaw, Sakura pulled her tense body down to the kitchen to try and find something to loosen her up a bit. Usually, it didn't really work, but she kept trying.

The idea that there was something that was _meant_ to help was usually enough to restrain her.

_Her body moved of its own accord, before she could even contemplate moving with her conscious thought. A sensation close the feel of water pounded inside her eardrums, her head fuzzy and her vision blurred. She felt out of control, as if her whole being was being swept mercilessly around like a doll. She felt as if she were drowning._

_But __**she**__ wasn't dying. He was._

… … …

"What? He didn't even try to _fight_ for you?"

Sakura couldn't stop the smile that twitched her lips upwards, and stirred her drink so that she wouldn't have to look at Ino's outraged face.

"Honestly… I didn't really want him to."

"Ah," Ino nodded wisely "You were giving him an ultimatum. Either he earns it or he doesn't get it."

Sakura looked up and studied Ino's face for a moment. The woman was being serious… and was still showing the remnants of being in Torao's maturity bracket.

"No, Ino. I was _genuinely_ breaking it off." Sakura spoke slowly and watched Ino's face as she waited for the words to sink in. It took a moment, but then Ino's expression cleared and she looked at Sakura sympathetically.

"Oooh, so was he the jealous kind, or just bad in bed?"

"Ino!" Sakura's cheeks heated. "You can't just ask that!"

Ino sniggered at her and shrugged unperturbed as she popped another grape in her mouth. " I tell you about _my_ love life!"

"I don't ask to know about it!"

"I still tell you about it…" She paused to pout and widen her eyes. "… Because you're my best friend…"

"That's a really low blow, pig."

"Wha-aht?" She paused a minute. "Will you be telling Sasuke and Naruto?"

"Why? So you can get them to tell you?" Ino's face lost it's mock hurt, and the blonde laughed, tossing her fringe out of her face.

"You know me so well. Seriously though, do I get an answer?"

"No."

"Whaaa!" Ino screeched, in a manner that could only have been copied from Naruto. "That's honestly so unfair… I'm never telling you anything ever again!"

"MmmHmm…"

"I'll find a new best friend."

"You do that."

"I'll stop pretending not to know about the porn stash under your bed!"

"Ex-excuse me?" Sakura's face coloured completely red, darker than the tomato that lay on her mostly untouched plate. When had Ino gone into her room? She hadn't even been round in months… had she?

As if reading her thoughts (and she probably was) Ino chimed in. " I found it when we went shopping remember? You couldn't have thought I wouldn't notice you slipping off to by stuff in Scandalous… I absolutely _had_ to check!"

"Breaking and entering… that's great Ino."

"Nuh uh!" Ino grinned. "Not at all, its much better than that forehead! I knew that you would notice if I broke in, and want to know why, so I waited until you were asleep and then I mind transferred and got _you_ to go look at it! No chakra remnants, no nothing! Pretty cool, huh?"

"I'm surprised you could be that sneaky…"

"Hey! I _am_ a ninja!"

"Not a very good one." Sakura met her eyes for a second. "And you've clearly been spending much too much time around Naruto."

"Forehead, you are not implying-"

"Definitely not. He doesn't swing that way."

"…Are you certain?"

"Yes. Go put your hooves elsewhere."

"… And Sasuke?"

Sakura blushed slightly as she remembered the incident at the hotel. "… You can that one together for yourself, pig."

"NOOOO!"

And that cry was the end of dreams for Naruto and Sasuke fans all over Konoha, Sakura thought as she rolled her eyes. Ino really did have to start hanging around people other than Naruto, even if he was the only one that could keep up with her idea of 'grabbing a pint'. Seriously, she ought too have a little mercy on people's ear drums, especially with how much of a world class bitch she could be when she had a hang over. She was just as bad, though not as destructive, as Tsunade.

Once her screaming had stopped however, her moping and grumbling gave Sakura a couple of minutes of relative quiet to recuperate. Wasn't long enough though, before she perked up.

"…Or maybe… you broke up with him because you had your eye on somebody else!"

"… How likely."

"You so do!"

"What have I said to you that could indicate that in any way shape or form?"

"Umm…" Ino looked stumped for almost 1.5 seconds before her face re - lit. "You didn't need to!"

"I am not following your logic, pig."

"And I know why you dumped Torao, too. It was the sex."

"I never said tha-"

"It's obvious, I mean, you accumulate a large collection of porn right when you finally have a boyfriend for a decent length of time then dump him?" Ino smiled smugly. "He didn't live up to expectations, clearly."

Sakura glared moodily at her iced fruit before confusion crept in, _again_ at her companion's trains of thought.

"What on earth would that have to do with me wanting someone else?"

"Tons. You brought the stuff while the two of you were still together, and as I said you have for once been together an amount of time we could define as a proper relationship, so you dump him now? You don't look cut into pieces, you're not offended by anything because if you were you'd be ranting, and so it is not a recent development." She smiled self-satisfactorily and tapped the spoon for her coffee against the cup. "So some_one _has made you change your mind."

"Right or wrong, that is very perceptive of you. Rather… analytical too."

"Yeah, well I've been stuck studying psychology." She rolled her eyes. "They wanna put my skills to proper use, and between nursing and psychology, I never do anything fun anymore. It feels like I'm stuck back at the academy."

"Really? They let you do your make up in the middle of lessons?"

"Aha, no." She gave Sakura a withering look. "Have you _met _Ibiki-Sensei? My techniques are at least painless when I want them to be. Ibiki-Sensei… isn't squeamish."

"I think some people may prefer Ibiki's methods though. Your technique is quite invasive."

"Oh, trust me, Ibiki-sensei can be _very _invasive when he wants to be."

"Okaaay, and that is all I need to know about _that_."

Ino laughed, but brought the conversation up to much lighter depths, and Sakura allowed herself to sink in, but she still couldn't shake that thought. And still hadn't by the time she left to go home.

'_You broke up with him because you have your eye on somebody else.' _

Was it really that obvious to tell when someone had an attraction to someone? Would her fantasies really imply anything other than that to someone so well trained? Couldn't they just be… fantasies? And how could she really link that to her break-up with Torao? Honestly, Ino was strange.

Especially since she hadn't told her about her little… thing for Kakashi. A few months ago she wouldn't have pictured anyone like that without then running a mile to go hyperventilate in peace, and now she was wondering if she may have a crush on one of the least appropriate people on the planet. That was so typically her, and Inner Sakura's sighing and glaring clearly agreed.

Of course, she could blame this sudden slip on reality on her training less. God, she needed to get herself grounded. She really was losing it, there was absolutely no way for her to think through this clearly.

Well, at least she and Kakashi shared some of the same… interests. If porn could be counted as a shared interest.

Hell, the point she was at now she may start thinking of their shared fondness for spring rolls as a 'shared interest'. That just said that she needed sleep, but unfortunately she was much too awake for that to happen; she hadn't blown off all of the steam that she needed to and now her head was filled with traitorous thoughts about something would probably never be.

…

The training ground was empty when she got there, not that that was surprising.

It was fairly late when she got there, and Team 7 was the only Team that liked to use this training ground anyway. This was _their_ place to make a mess, and once they had destroyed it none of the other ninja wanted to work around the… change of landscaping that they had caused, and there wasn't a great deal of scenery for the civilians to enjoy. The only thing that ever brought anyone to this particular ground was the small memorial stone that sat near the entrance.

This was what brought Kakashi there, around half an hour later, only to find the area being destroyed by what looked like a pink tornado. Sakura moved with immense speed and agility wrecking destruction in her path, and cutting down everything that could create an impact. If not for Yamato, it could take years to rebuild the nature that she took minutes to tear down.

Her movements stayed away from the stone, out of habit and respect, and as focused as she was on her training she blocked out the chakra that signalled his presence. She was in Konoha. There wasn't many people here who could harm her, and even less who would want to. So she just pretended that the presence didn't exist.

Chakra detection was something that she was incredibly good at, and even while blocking it out it eventually registered that the presence belonged to Kakashi, and she stopped to stand close to him. If he was there to visit the stone she didn't want to disturb him.

When her eyes turned to him though, he was looking straight at her, so she raised an arm in a kind of embarrassed greeting.

"Um… Hey Kakashi."

"Training, Sakura?" She nodded mutely, and looked at him questioningly as he shrugged off his vest. "Mind if I join in?"

"Not at all."

They lost track of time as they trained together, focusing mostly on taijutsu before moving onto to strategy. They built up pair strategies, finding that their plans flowed effortlessly as they worked to fill in each other's weak spots. They'd always worked well together improvising, but now, as they talked it all out, the various combinations and factors that could affect a battle, they realised just _how well_ they really did work. Every weak spot was addressed and overcome, and with their abilities combined they had yet to get over anything that they couldn't overcome. It made them feel a lot more secure, their actions becoming softer as they relaxed.

They had finally found out why they could so easily trust each other with their lives, and that helped to strengthen the kind of bonds that had held them together for so long as teammates and as friends. The euphoria from this lingered long after they stopped training, after they went to grab a snack (cause high calibre ninja do have to refuel after all), after they had parted their separate ways to go home in the early hours of the morning.

And Sakura was out like a light the moment her head hit her pillow with a light thud.

Her dreams were restless plagued with evens both recent and not so, and her sheets twisted around her as she tossed and turned for hours without waking. She normally would, but the moment that she reached the height of distress she calmed, over and over again, her subconscious thoughts were plagued by her protector. Even when he wasn't here, even asleep Kakashi fought down the ghosts that haunted her.

…

Nethertheless, she still woke early. They had been given a break for a few days after they finished a reconnaissance mission, and so her alarm was not set. She didn't have nay plans, and she absolutely hated time when she had nothing to do. She liked to feel useful, helpful, productive. Damn difficult when she'd been given a 'rest break'. That phrase was usually shouted by happy ninja looking forward to lounging around doing nothing, but it had always been something that she hated with a vengeance. At least she had finally gathered some interests in a way other than 'Its alright I suppose'. She could read, or watch a movie, or draw. Or maybe run up to Scandalous and pick up some new material. Or just lay here, bored out of her mind.

Twisting the sheets between her hands, her half asleep thoughts switched back to Kakashi. As part of Team 7, he had leave too, so maybe she could go see if he was busy. Or would that be pushy

'_Well he's never had a problem with it before.' _Inner Sakura interjected. But she still couldn't help but think it through slightly, what he would think of her seeking him out again so soon after they had just spent so much time together, and she felt that it was at least partially Ino's fault. If the stupid blonde hadn't said it out loud she wouldn't be feeling so damn self conscious.

And so there was only a slight disappointment when her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. Maybe there would finally be something to occupy her mind for a little while. Sakura sighed as her muscles stretched out, feeling her workout with Kakashi as she dragged herself out of bed to find her abandoned phone. It lay on her desk, out of her reach.

She immediately recognised the number that flashed on screen.

"Kakashi!"

"Who are you, and what have you done with little Sakura-chan?"

"EEH?"

"You are much too, cheery today Sakura, especially for so early in the morning…"

"Yeah, well so are you."

"Only out of an effort to irritate you."

Sakura rolled her eyes as Kakashi's voice fell into a deeper, less scarily happy tone as she brushed off his comment. There really was no point in fighting the man, especially if it was a battle of words. He would definitely win.

"What do you want then, you aggravating old man?"

"Nice team mates, who don't insult my age."

"And you're asking me?"

His voice became incredibly whiny. "I thought I could rely on you, Sakura-chan!"

"It's quite honestly _sad_ that a man your age can achieve such a childish tone."

"… So I'll take my day off and Special Edition uncut version of Icha Icha elsewhere shall I?"

"… I suppose I can tolerate you if you absolutely _cannot_ find anyone else who will."

"Great, I was getting worried for a minute then. One sec."

"Huh?"

Sakura turned to see Kakashi climbing into her bedroom window, for once in casual training attire rather than Jonin uniform. It clung a lot tighter to his muscles, and he didn't have a massive vest to obscure that, although he was wearing a thick black coat that he had stupidly left unbuttoned. The medic inside her wanted to lecture him, but the strategist said that that was probably what he had been aiming for. So she just glared at him and let it be.

"You were waiting outside my window?"

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist my copious amounts of charm."

Sakura snorted. "Make yourself useful and put on the damn film."

"Here or downstairs?"

"Here's fine."

"How many alcohol bottles do you have in the living room?"

Sakura looked at him sharply. Yes, she had been drinking yesterday, but she hadn't been drunk, and she hadn't had alcohol on her breath or tainting her chakra. She had made sure of that.

"How'd you?"

"I know you Sakura." He smiled kindle at her before winking mischievously. "Though I am a little upset that you didn't want me to wallow with you."

"I'll make sure to invite you next time."

"Now that you know I know d'you wanna go downstairs or is here still fine?"

"I'm still in my pyjamas. Here will do."

"Have you changed the sheets since you broke up with Torao?"

"Yes."

"I suppose its safe then."

Sakura glared at him. "Have you ever had sex on your sofa?"

"Of course I-"

"Then go get a new one, no one wants to sit on that."

"No, they'd rather lie on it."

"Well, Gai does visit you fairly often."

"Don't joke about that."

The silence wasn't awkward as Kakashi slipped the disk into the player and turned on the TV while Sakura made her bed. Her day was automatically better now, even though she hated to have a guest before she had brushed her teeth.

"One sec, I just need to brush my teeth," She called over her shoulder as she walked into the bathroom.

"Yeah, you should. Can't be too careful about personal hygiene."

"MmmHmmm… when was the last time that you changed your underwear?"

"Years, I think…"

"DOn't joke about that!" Sakura screeched around a mouthful of toothpaste.

"I'm not," He said smugly, and she waited for the punch line. "… I prefer not to wear any."

"…"

"…And now you are thinking about it."

"I-I am most definitely _not_ thinking about y-you, naked!"

"I said nothing about naked, _you_ filled that part in."

"Argh!" Sakura spat the toothpaste into the sink furiously, and expression of absolute anger on her face as she came back into the bedroom to glare at the silver haired man who had just gone and spread out right in the centre of her bed. She not-so-subtly pushed him to the side and climbed on next to him. Yes, there would have been room for both of them anyway. Yes, that action did give her a kind of petty satisfaction. "You are so aggravating."

"I try."

Then he pressed the play button.

A/N - Yes, I know I have left that in a rather bizarre place, but I had to split it here or have this chapter about four times the length of all of the others. I will try to update soon so as not to leave this in a stupid place, but I am writing other things, have GCSE's to prepare for, and no one really reads this anyway. Until next time…

R&R


	13. Icha Icha Movie

A/N - Ok, I wasn't going to update so quickly, but reviews from XxTheFishMastorxX, TeamTHEFT and MySoulIsYoursTakeIt made me want to put up another chapter.

Thanks, guys!

This chapter is in first person. I have chosen to do this, because I realise that the last chapter felt kind of detached, as did probably the rest of it. The only irritating thing about this is that I can't switch character POV without switching entirely. So this chapter is from Sakura's perspective.

Chapter 13

On came something that was most definitely not Icha Icha.

The telletubbies were something I had only come across a couple of times on missions in civilian area, but that had been quite enough to last me a lifetime. These multicoloured dickheads did not impress me in the slightest. They were completely dead brained and the show was too repetitive even for small children. It made kids think that they might one day find a TV in their stomach and represented a bright ball of gas as a baby, with was probably quite accurate really. That mission had seen a lot of small children burping and farting near me, and I didn't have much want to look after any that weren't my own creation. Once I had one of her own, or one of my friends did, then I may be able to enjoy the species as a whole, but that day had not come yet, and first I had to find someone that I was willing to procreate with.

…And who would _actually_ be interested.

"What the fuck do you think this is?"

Kakashi just laughed, and help up a silver disk, just close enough for me to read the title, and I could see that that was the actual disk. "So why have you put on _this_?"

"I thought it might be quite funny. And I was right."

"Great, can you put the film on now then?"

"No."

"What?" I launched herself off the bed to attack him, but we weren't fighting seriously, we were playing, and his height was a definite advantage. All he had to do was raise his arm slightly and I had lost. He exploited this for all it was worth, raising it and lowering it over and over, giggling at the sight of me trying to reach it.

I thought that he only laughed at Icha Icha. Clearly I was wrong.

I straightened again, leaning back to glare at him. "Why not?"

"Because a certain blonde friend of yours came to me asking for answers about your relationship with Torao, and I admit that I am curious."

"What the fuck does that have to do with this piece of shit TV show?"

"I figured you may need some incentive to talk, and, of course, your face makes me laugh."

"…My _face_ makes you laugh." My cheeks coloured at Kakashi's words. "Cheers Kakashi."

"Your very welcome, my cherry red friend."

"That pun was frankly shit."

"What pun?"

I scowled, leaning back again. I already knew that he would win if I decided to try and throw my weight around. He just had so much more of it than I did. There was only one thing for it…

"Whaddya wanna know?"

"Hmmm…" He scratched his chin thoughtfully, as if he hadn't already thought it through after talking to Ino. Knowing Ino, she'd probably given him a set list of questions anyway.

As if sensing that I was getting quite close to wrecking my bedroom and his bones in one punch, he answered.

"Why did you break up with him?"

"Because I wanted to. Next!"

"…Was he the jealous kind, or just bad in bed?" Kakashi was laughing now, and her fears of an Ino set list were definitely confirmed.

"Taking orders from irritating pigs now are we?"

"Yes, and as she can control my body if I don't get what she wants, I would rather just get the answers that she's looking for."

"Why? Your sharingan can top her mind transfer any day."

"She can control me in my sleep."

"You'd wake up if you sensed her near you."

"I'd think that you would too. And I don't particularly want her going through my secret desires."

That made me pause a moment, a cold creeping over me. Surely if she had done the Jutsu she knew already? So why was she pretending not to know, and making me admit it?

And why had she picked Kakashi to come get the answers from me? If she knew what had been in my head, she knew that I had been lusting (I refused to think of it as anything else) after Kakashi, and that was probably why she had sent him, but…

She had done that technique multiple times on me over the years. It would go without saying that she knew other things too. And she still hung around me? No one else knew, so she hadn't told anyone…

"Can she do that?"

"Do what?"

"Read your… thoughts, desires etc? I never thought to ask."

"As I've been on the receiving end of Inoichi, I would say so, yes."

Oh, dear God…

I turned to Kakashi, trying to calm my nerves. "I have to go talk to her. Do you mind waiting 10 minutes? I'll be back soon…" I turned on my 'pretty please' smile, to let him know that I really didn't want him to go anywhere. I would actually really need his company if Ino knew what I thought she did. That would just be… dreadful.

He sighed, and flopped on the bed, covering his eye with his arm. "I suppose you can neglect me for 10 minutes or so." He moved his eye, to give her a puppy dog look with the eye that showed. "If you take too long though, I may get upset, and say… go through your emails, raid your porn stash and then go tell Naruto of your undying love for him."

"Oh, please, like that would do anything to _me_. We both know his bed isn't empty."

"Exactly. And we both know that you hate to fight with Sasuke."

"He's not stupid, and we would hunt you down and kill you."

He scowled at her before pointing his finger at her beaten alarm clock. "You have 15 minutes before I come drag you back here. Starting… now."

Rolling my eyes at him I jumped out of the window. He really couldn't preach to anyone about time. Ever. He'd been late so many times that I'd have to be about two years late back to even it out. But he'd probably still put on his hurt face if I came back a minute late. The irritating thing was that he'd probably get me to apologise, too. He really was irritating. So it was even more irritating that I had a had a lasting crush on the man.

'_Did you honestly just admit to the fact that you __**seriously**__ want Mr Hatake in your pants… or did I just mishear?'_

'You must have misheard me.'

Now I had to reason through this while ignoring all of my traitorous thoughts, the stupid ones, the ones that would only lead to disaster and humiliation; aka, the ideas from my inner.

'Stupid bitch.'

'_Ooh, really? Cause, dear Sakura, at least I'm the part of you that knows what she wants. And if you'd listen I'd help you to get it.'_

'Sorry, I know better.'

'_Really, though? You know I'm at least partially right. I'm a part of you, and sorry hon, but that means that my ideas do at least work from your emotions and desires. No matter how much you brush me off, we both know that you want him. A lot. And until you admit that to yourself, I'm not going to spell out how much.'_

'Cheers for the help, bitch.'

'_I thought that you didn't __**want**__ my help.'_

'You only give it when I don't want it. When I do, you don't offer anything.'

'_Aww, we both know that's not quite true. Now act normal, we're outside Ino's front door.'_

It was true as well, and I had to wonder how long I had been stood here, arguing with myself. It couldn't be long, because I hadn't masked my chakra, and Ino hadn't come out to demand to know why I was loitering on her doorstep.

She obviously was about to though, because she opened the door before I had even finished knocking. She looked slightly nervous as she let me in, so I could assume that she thought I was going to kill her for sending a minion of sorts for answers.

Not that Kakashi had gone out of respect for Ino, the nosy git. Her overly happy tone and ridiculous vocabulary were a rather bad attempt to hide her apprehension.

"Hey forehead girl! What's going on so early this fine morning?"

"Hmmm, I dunno. I just found out that you potentially know all of my thoughts and emotions and memories, that's what."

She nodded. "Ah, yeah, you really do have a thing for Kakashi, huh?" She shook her head. "And I set up a situation perfect for you to tell him, and you don't take the opportunity."

"You know how my parents died." It felt like someone was choking me, it was so difficult to get those words out. Very few people knew what had happened, no one knew entirely, but it seemed like an unspoken rule not to talk about it. As a result, I struggled so much with even saying _my parents_. Saying it made them seem so much more real, made _that_ seem so much more real.

Ino nodded, and I silently thanked her for not talking. The sound of a human voice would have been too much for my in relation to this, breaking into my silent reverie. I knew that she knew, but I didn't know how much. Or how she had interpreted it.

"And you… know what had happened before. And… who did it?"

"Yes," She paused for a minute, and her gaze wavered for a small second, before finding mine with new resolve. She shook her head at me, her expression begging me to listen to her, and that was the only thing that kept me standing there, rather than running in fear as I may have done a few years earlier. "No one would blame you, you know." She smiled at me. "You did the right thing. If I'd been you, I'd have wanted to do the same, but I never would have been able to."

I felt a huge weight leave me at her words. No one had never said that to me before, and I'd never imagined that if someone knew that could be their response. She understood. She thought it was ok.

"Even though I'm a murderer?"

"You aren't a murderer now, and you certainly weren't then. Circumstances in account, you were a scared child." She smiled again. "And I am glad that you could protect yourself, and avenge her at the same time." She leant forward to emphasise her point. "She would have wanted you to."

" We didn't know her long enough. How can you be certain?"

"Have some faith."

And with that, Ino gave me one last smile and went into the kitchen to carry on kneading her cookie dough.

"Is that really all you can say about it?" I searched her. Did she really hold no hatred or fear or bitterness towards me? How long had she known?

"Did you want me to say something else?"

"How long have you known?"

"Since we started training together." She said softly. "They needed someone to find out what happened without asking you about it, or frightening you." She grinned at me. "I was obviously the only choice… as I've said, Ibiki-sensei is _scary_!"

I walked over and hugged her, and she tensed at the action, and I knew it was from shock. I had very rarely hugged her before, and she was the one that had to initiate it. I didn't mind Ino touching me, but I just wasn't used to physical signs of friendship and affection. I wanted to now though.

"… Thank you pig. So much."

I could feel a smile stretching her face as it rested against mine, and she giggled softly.

"You are very welcome, forehead girl."

I pulled away from her, offering a smile. "Now, I have to go. Thanks to _someone_ I have a certain silver haired sensei in my bed, waiting for me."

"Make it count forehead!"

Well, that had been surprisingly unexpected.

So was the empty bedroom as I swung through the window. Kakashi had told me to stay, but now wasn't here? What an asshole.

Sighing, I sat on my bed and picked up the Icha Icha case that was sat there. Well… he hadn't completely left then. He'd been waiting for this for months, and wouldn't just leave it behind. Especially if he hadn't watched it 50 times yet, or used the sharingan to commit it to memory.

"Kakashi!" I called, waiting for a response. "Kakashi?"

"Yes, Sakura?" A cool breath ran across my neck, and I realised that he was stood behind me, his lips positioned near my ear.

"I- What are, have you been outside?"

I couldn't stop the question from slipping out. He was so close, and I could easily smell the cold crisp scent of _outdoors_ on him.

"Are you upset that I am not in your bed?"

_Shit._

"Happy, actually. I don't particularly want your smell all over them."

"Hmmm…" His masked lips ran from the nape of her neck to pause at her ear. " That's not what I heard a few minutes ago."

"Yeah? What did you hear and where? I thought that you were supposed to stay here?"

"A little birdy told me that you were going to make the most of having me in your bed."

I couldn't help but shiver at the low rumble of his voice, so close to me that I could feel the vibrations against my throat as he travelled across it. "Oh, really?"

"Yes. And I was wondering exactly how you were going to do that."

His hands had been resting on my hips before, but now they moved at the same slow speed as his mouth, caressing my sides and stomach but not going anywhere higher. I knew that he was waiting (not so patiently) for a response, but I couldn't form the words to give him a verbal one.

Instead, I turned around and closed my eyes, yanking his mask down clumsily as I reached for his lips with my own. This was obviously the correct answer, as his arms came round to pull me close, so that I was surrounded by his embrace. He kissed me softly, but there was a firm pressure to his lips that definitely wanted more. Over and over he rubbed his lips against mine, capturing gone between his but he still didn't take it any further. So I decided that I had to.

The bizarre thing was, if he had been any other guy, this was our first kiss and I would actually be slightly offended, and wary of him if he tried to take it any further. But this was Kakashi, who I had known for years and trusted with my emotions, life and body. I knew that he would never hurt me, and I had wanted him for so long that I felt we were in an entirely different place to anyone I had ever been with in any way, shape, or form. I felt like he should have been the first, and this was probably what caused me to cling to him so desperately. He wasn't, and he couldn't be.

Suddenly, he pulled away a little and looked down at me questioningly, his eye roving over my features carefully, holding many emotions that I could not name. Academics were my thing, and I had never really got any good and reading people's expressions. That was Ino's forte.

"What's wrong?" He asked gently, and it confused me. Nothing was wrong, at all. I was happier now than I had possibly been my entire life, certainly since _that._ But he was expecting an answer that I could not give.

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "Something's upsetting you. I can tell."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He scrutinised me carefully for a few moment more before sighing again. " You really don't do you?"

I shook my head, and he gave up, one hand rising up to cradle my head against his shoulder.

"I know that you're hiding something from me," He whispered, his breath fanning down my back. " They chose me to be your sensei because I knew your parents fairly well - your father worked with my own, until the mission that disgraced him. I wasn't given the details of their deaths, as I was told that it may influence the way that I behave around you, and that the Hokage wanted me to look after you, Sasuke and Naruto. All he would really tell me was that all three of you were similar to myself, but you were the only one who I was not allowed to plague for answers." he pulled back a little again, to look me in the eye. "Which is a shame, because you were always the one who mattered the most."

"And Ino hasn't told you?" I checked worriedly. If Ino had told him… If he knew… Would he think of me the same way that she did? Would he pity me? Or hate me?

"I didn't ask her. I wasn't sure if she knew, or if did, how much. So I decide to just let it be. But Sakura," He was looking at me seriously again. "I am here if you need to talk."

I took back everything I said earlier about him being a nosy git. But if he'd heard that, then… "How much did you hear me talking about earlier with Ino?"

"I only caught the ending. I made sure to wait before following you, and then gradually gain on you, so that you wouldn't notice me following you. I only heard from the part where you said that you are a murderer, and Ino saying that you were avenging someone. I didn't hear any who's or when's or anything." He grinned at me. " And, of course, I heard that you should take advantage of me." He put on a wounded expression. "I am hurt that you would talk about me like that! It honestly makes me worried about what else you might say about me when I'm not there!"

"Aww, we don't plot very often…" I rolled my eyes and smirked at him. "And it's usually Ino's doing."

"Is that a plan to try and help you or me?"

"Definitely me. From what I've heard, she doesn't have anything to worry about with _your_ love life at all."

"From what I've seen of Torao before you canned him, she didn't have anything to worry about with yours either."

"She's been in my head. Trust me, she knows a lot more than I'd like her to."

"About what you'd like to do to me?"

"… And what I'd like _you_ to do."

He smirked, and started walking me backwards so that I was forced to lie on the bed. He tilted his head down so that he could lightly brush his face across mine. "And what exactly is so dirty that you are embarrassed that Ino knows about it?"

I feigned surprise, pulling back slightly to stare at him. "Wouldn't you rather wait and find out?"

"… Or you could tell me, and we could get on with it?"

"Argh! You want me to randomly shag a friend and former teacher, with no indication of a relationship?" I asked in a fake insulted tone. "You must be having a donkey!"

"Well, you **do** wanna know if I'm part donkey."

"That's not quite what I said."

He lowered his mouth, now talking around a mouthful of my earlobe. "It's very true though."

"Nah, I bet you're all talk, especially since there's been lots of it."

He pulled back with a shrug. "Yeah, it is well known that I'm nice enough to wine and dine first…" Suddenly he was off me, and stood against the window. "So I'll catch you later."

I smirked at him, and held up the DVD. "So you wont watch this with me then."

"You may find it too much temptation."

"Yeah, watching porn makes me need to masturbate. Got nothing to do with you, though."

He was back in front of me. "I'm not very good at keeping my hands to myself, dear. It has plenty to do with me."

The start of an Icha Icha movie was always subtle, so as to drag in the audience before insulting some of the prudes, and though I easily got into it, It was highly difficult not to pay any attention to the man laid far too close to me. He was doing it on purpose, lifting his hand to his hair, making sure that it ghosted near to my body on the way. It would run across my arm on the way back down. If he wanted to play this game… I would have to make sure he lost.

It wasn't that difficult to force away arousal when this was all so knew to me, the feel of someone so close to me and touching me so familiarly. It was strange, and when I forced myself into the situation objectively, it made my hair stand on end at the feel of skin near mine.

The feeling grew and grew to the point of fear and pain, and if I could get rid of it, I would gladly let him win the game. I would gladly succumb to the feeling of happiness and pleasure that only rose fully when he was around.

But I couldn't fight it down.

And I couldn't control my actions as a result.

A/N- Well that was a weird chapter. The next chapter is going to be from Kakashi's point of view, as this one was from Sakura's, and I think we'll need his view of her 'actions'. This chapter has Kakasaku progress more than anything else, but there'll be some mission type stuff coming up, too. I wanted to make this chapter as long as the last one, but I couldn't really do it with only Sakura's viewpoint. Hence why it is really short (still not as short as my beginning chapters, though).

R&R


	14. Jiraiya

My head hit the wall rather unexpectedly.

It wasn't that the kunoichi wasn't capable, but she had never before sought to hurt me, or anyone else really. If she won a sparring match, as she had with the bells, it was because it was something she could easily achieve without touching her opponent, or causing the slightest bit of pain. With someone this talented, it was something I was grateful for.

Now though, Sakura's chakra was ominous and erratic, showing off her massive ability, as well as her readiness to use it. Her eyes were slightly watery, but torn between fear, fury and sorrow. She was afraid. This was why I would have to act carefully. I knew she was scared, but I didn't know why, and therefore didn't know what I could do to calm her. I did the only thing that I could do, even though it may make things worse; I reached my arms out to her.

It took a while, but I didn't move or retract my offer as her eyes cooled down, her breathing became less laboured and her body lost it's stiff posture, beginning to shake. I felt a warm, light weight hit me again, but this time it was because she was embracing me rather than pushing me away. I much preferred this.

"I'm sorry, Sensei," She whispered and it brought back some memories, this way in which she spoke to me that she hadn't used since she was a genin. She hadn't ever really sort out my comfort, or let me see much weakness of character, although she didn't seem to have much problem with any weakness of abilities. She trusted me to look after her, and it was times like this that she showed it. For some reason, it didn't really sit well with me, the little girl showing through to glare me in the face. It filled me with disgust and contempt, both directed at myself as I realised that the child in her did have yet to go. My mind worked around it, trying to work out if this truly was a part of her being or simply a remainder set off by her outburst. A breakdown that I didn't know how I had caused.

"It's okay, Sakura," I soothed, stroking her hair as I tried to force my emotions and memories under wraps as they were having a field day with the way her lush body was pressed against me. Her hands were pressed tightly against my abs as she clung, her breasts pressed against me; I could feel them well through her thin shirt, making him highly aware of the fact that he wasn't wearing his Jonin attire… and Sakura had gone to visit Ino while still wearing her pyjamas.

"What?" She asked thickly, slightly defensively as I giggled. Apparently she had been offended by it.

"Nothing," I stroked her hair. " I just realised that you walked all of the way to Ino's in your pyjamas."

My heart lifted a little when she laughed too.

888

They really shouldn't brief people on the security of the hidden files. The more people knew, the more people could break in, and the less likely they were to blame this on me. I found the documents that I needed pretty quickly, and tons more than that besides. I left no trace as I entered the building, the room, the cabinets. Now I just had to decide whether I ought to take the time to copy the files rather than risk taking them with me and getting caught. Both ideas could get me caught, neither of which I was happy about, and how often would someone be looking at these anyway? I bet they hadn't be dug out in years, much like my Genin records. My ANBU ones were only dragged out occasionally to look impressive to out allied villages. They often forgot to mention that I'm no longer a part of it. Because we never _really_ stop being ANBU. We work when our skills are required, and pretend to be happily retire otherwise.

_Damnit._ I sighed as got to work copying them, while keeping my chakra both masked and on edge. It was difficult to manage, but I needed to hide my presence while making sure that no one was coming this way. Once done, I hightailed it out of there are quickly as physically possible, while still certain that I hadn't left any evidence that could point in my direction. Even if I had, I hadn't taken the file with me, and could easily just say that I had been checking on something else. My lies were usually so ludicrous that people gave up trying, or that they would believe me the moment I spat out something remotely plausible.

My apartment was cool when I got in. I had left the window open slightly for Mr Ukki when I went to visit Sakura, and as it had been a few hours, my apartment was definitely well-aired. To the extent that my home had started smelling like fresh air, like outdoors, like there _wasn't _a lone man living here, ignoring the invention of air freshener and masturbating to random fantasies be it in the living room, bedroom or bathroom. Age has had no real effect on _that_. (By what Sakura had said earlier, it was a wonder she ever dropped round at all… even if she probably _did_ like the idea…)

I closed the window tightly shut behind me, and dropped into a sitting position on the window ledge, opening the copied file up on my lap. This wasn't just a record of a single incident, or even several related incidents, but pretty much the story of Sakura's life. It was a file used by Ibiki, most likely he examined the girl at some stage, or one of the other psychiatrists/interrogators. It had even a copy of her birth certificate, and everything from that point on, but not even necessarily documents of any kind. There were letters here, clan treaties, the things of a fully functioning family in society. A lot of the references in here led to different files, so I would probably be making a return trip or two or three, unless I found out enough to get Sakura to tell me the rest. She could be stubborn when she wanted to be, so I doubted it.

One of the things that struck me about this file was the lack of a marriage photo, or a photo of Sakura as a newborn. This file held everything else; it had the marriage and birth certificates, even another small file that usually came from one family promising something (or someone) to another. But there were no photos until Sakura was a couple of years old, and those were medical photos, without her parents. The photos after that were a couple of her with Uchiha Itachi, and a couple that included Sasuke as well. Then the ones of her with her Uncle and Cousins. After that, there weren't any family members left that he knew of, and this was proven by the lack of them in the pictures between the last photo and the skip straight ahead to a copy of the picture they'd taken of Team 7. The ones in between had been taken by someone else, probably Iruka, as they showed Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke still in the academy.

I could look at this; a record of Sakura's life, and not know what her parents looked like. I suppose one of them had fair skin, the other green eyes, maybe she inherited her pink hair from a Grandmother?

What if Sakura herself didn't really know? She had been so young when her parents died, and maybe she didn't have a photo either? Surely someone in Konoha ought to?

"Hey there, brat. You left your mark again."

I turned to see Jiraiya stood behind me, but I didn't bother to hide the files. He had already seen them, and they were probably the reason that he'd come to begin with. He would never tell me what it was, but somehow I left a trace that was undetectable to anyone but him. Maybe he found it in sage mode?

I nodded at him. "Jiraiya."

"Found anything interesting there Kashi-kun?"

"Don't call me that."

Jiraiya smiled sadly. "Just copying Minato. It's nice to feel like someone does."

"That's Naruto. He's really grown strong, and his hold of the Kyuubi is increasing by the day. And you know I don't really mind.

"I just complained when he said it, too."

Jiraiya laughed. "You always were an irritating, independent little brat."

"You can't really call me a little brat anymore."

"You always will be to me, brat."

"Naruto is more deserving of the title."

Jiraiya just smiled again, and shook his head softly. " You and Naruto both. You were always Minato's favourite, you know? He entrusted you to me, along with Naruto in case of his death. Of course, you didn't really need much looking after by that point…"

"Yet you still make a point of invading my privacy for the sake of being a parental influence." I subtly slid the file to my side in the hope that he wouldn't comment on it. As usual, that was the worst thing to do.

"What you got there brat? Nothing I wouldn't give you, I hope?"

"What reading material wouldn't you give me old man?"

Jiraiya thought for a moment, but he wasn't thinking of reading material, he was wondering how to phrase what he was going to say. Usually this would lead me to attempt to run for it, because I knew that the conversation coming would be awkward. This time though, I would wait it out. He might have info, or maybe photos. For a while, Jiraiya used a camera to gain his references, so that he could study human interaction and whatever else it is that artists want to look at. He'd kept every photo too, apart from ones that people, like me, stole from him for sentimental or less savoury purposes.

He sat down beside me. "Why are you investigating the life of Haruno Sakura then?"

I gave my token resistance, shifting my expression to one of absolute boredom and resting my head in my palms. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Really?" He scooped up the discarded file. "Was this just planted on you?"

"It must have been nothing to do with me…" I smiled at him nicely - I may as well play nice. " Although, the file was left open when I got back here, and the wind kept turning the pages… I don't suppose you'd be powerful enough to be trusted with that all important info that would fill in the blanks?"

"I'm the most trusted ninja in Konoha! Of course I know the answers…" He turned serious. " but some of them Kakashi, you will have to find out for yourself."

"You see the thing is… there was a huge dragon that required this from me, and I must get all of the answers by 4.30 this afternoon or-"

"Or he'll drag you off of the road to life again? Nice try kid, but Sakura will have to tell you herself.

"Why are you so interested in the pink haired kunoichi anyway… she definitely has her charms, but she's… not your _usual _type."

"My usual type are complete bitches who don't really expect me to do any of the work…" I scratched my chin thoughtfully. "Suits me fine."

That was one of the things that baffled me. I wanted a lot more with Sakura than I had ever wanted with any other woman, and I had felt an absurd light feeling when I had heard her and Ino talking. It was the same kind of cutsey, bubbly feeling I got sometimes when I occasionally picked up a teen romance, and the girl finally gets the guy that she has been crushing on. Or like when I watch films like the Notebook, definitely alone, because I tend to cry a little at the ending, and also feel insanely jealous of the couple. Though Noah probably should have given up on Allie once she got engaged. I would have, to try and keep some pride, but I admire the way he builds up the house with her in mind. It makes me want to do something like that for someone. Someone like Sakura.

"And what does that tell you about Sakura?"

I frowned. Where was he taking this? I was certain he was just here to give me an ear clipping from stealing from the Hokage. They were… close, after all.

"That she's not the same as the others?" I felt like an academy kid, failing to answer a question, something that I had never done while in the academy. Ninja rules were easy. Memorising texts were nothing for me. Jiraiya… could be confusing.

"And what does THAT tell you?"

"That she's odd."

Jiraiya laughed. "You're a bit off there, Kashi-kun." He patted my knee. "Did you know that she has a plant named Kashi-kun? Why would she do that?"

"Because she finds it funny to think of me killing plants."

"But why would _that_ stick?"

"Because when we were given them I told her how Mr Ukki the first died. She enjoys laughing at my expense."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Fine, deny it. See if I care." He got up and stretched, seemingly filling the room with his large form. He pulled something out of his pocket and passed it to me. I immediately stared looking through it with interest, becoming more and more intrigued as I looked at the picture. These were exactly what I wanted, and I hadn't even had to ask for them. Sometimes Jiraiya was just creepy with how accurate he could be without being told something. The man was never far off of the mark.

"When you go see Sakura later, you should take them with you to give to her."

I scowled at him again. "Who said I'm going to see Sakura later?"

"You didn't get what you wanted from me. Of course you are going to see her later."

"Maybe I was going to ask elsewhere first."

"No, even if you had you'd use it as an excuse to go see her."

"I don't need an excuse to go see her."

"Maybe. But that doesn't stop you from coming up with a reason every time you do." He ruffled my hair, something that I always pretended irritated me. He knew it didn't really. With hair as messy as mine, it was difficult to even see a difference. "Catch ya later, brat."

I waved at him half heartedly, still looking at the photos. "Later, you barmy old codger."

I continued going through the pictures. There were quite a few here, but I knew that there must be more. There hadn't been any in the file, but Jiraiya always had way of getting multiple snaps of people, and there were only a couple of each person here. Still, it was better than I could have found anywhere else.

Sakura's mother it seemed was a beauty, though with different colourings to her daughter. Her skin was pale, and her mouth was the same, with the same face shape, but she ha long black hair that reached waist level, and flat purple eyes. She looked cold here as she stood next to her husband, who looked even more indifferent. There was something off about these people, or perhaps something off about their marriage. The father looked the same in all the pictures, if not worse, but in the ones where she was younger, and the gold band was missing from her finger her eyes were closer to violet than the near obsidian they had been in later pictures, and her pupils were normal, automatically making her appear more alive. She smiled, and I could see Sakura's smile there, the few times that she had truly smiled at me.

There were only a couple of pictures of them married, only one of their wedding, and only a couple more of them with their daughter. Sakura's hair was pink, but as a baby her eye colour differed between purple and green, with no reason that could be found just by looking at the images. In a photo dated only days after her parents' death her eyes were purple. But Kakashi had never seen her with anything but green.

Jiraiya had also included pictures of her grandparents, and her aunties and uncles, only one of each family member, and labelled them in relation to her. Some of them also held addresses. Maybe he wanted her to get in contact with some of them - that would mean that some of them were still alive. He knew that her uncle and cousins had died when she was a child, but why had the others not taken care of her? After the massacre, Sakura had taken care of herself, same as Sasuke, and I have to say, from a fatherly perspective and also from experience, that that was too young. I can't imagine leaving a child alone to fend for themselves. I would always make a back up plan. At least my father had left me Jiraiya to make sure that I stayed alive.

And for a while, my mother. She had been so.. Emptied by father's death and the huge _change_ that occurred still haunts me. I still have nightmares about it, and that was really the main reason why I couldn't walk in his footsteps. I couldn't hurt anyone like that.

When you love someone, you don't leave them. And suicide counted as leaving. He _chose_ to. Honour killing or not, it was wrong to leave your family. _We_ weren't ashamed of him, and I was too young to fully understand what came from it. I couldn't understand that he was bringing honour and respect back to the family. All I could do was come to terms with the fact that Dad was gone, and that Mother was slowly going with him. I hated him for that.

Did Sakura feel something similar? Did she feel resentment for the family that had left her alone, with no one to care for her?

I rose to my feet slowly and pocketed the photographs, deep in thought for the entire journey to Sakura's house. She needed someone to look after her. I would happily let that be me.

I tapped on her window, irritated. She'd actually sealed it for once, and it would be a lot less damaging in my current distracted state if she just let me.

"Yo, Sak!" I tapped again.

She looked rather flustered as she opened the window and hurriedly let me in. "Hey Kashi." She murmured, sounding slightly subdued. Her eyes were cast down and her eyelashes rested lowly on her pink dusted cheeks, making her incredibly appealing. But she looked sad, she was probably still upset from this morning.

I instinctively folded her into a quick hug, and when she smiled as we let go I knew that I had done the right thing. I wasn't going way off the mark, and I felt slightly happier that I hadn't just landed on my face.

"I brought something that I though you might like to look at." I pulled out the photos and folded her under my arm as I offered them to her. She took them from me, staying in my one armed embrace as she stared at the top one for minutes without blinking or flicking through to the others.

"Jiraiya gave them to me. He thought that you may like to have them."

Sakura looked up at me, her eyes clouded up with tears. "Thank you, Kakashi," She whispered, and she reached up to wrap her arms around my neck. I place mine around her and held her closer, letting her take comfort from me. I could feel her breath on my neck. "I've never had a picture of them before." Her voice quivered. "Do you know where Jiraiya-sama got them?"

I felt a gentle smile take over my mouth as I looked at her eyes, lit up both happily and sadly. "He used to take pictures by the hundreds. He may have more if you ask him."

"Why did he give them to you?"

Would she be angry at me for going through her file, and invading her privacy? "I found the case file, because I wanted to find out more about you. I should have asked you first, but I wanted to know what set you off this morning. I can go get it for you if you like."

"Please."

I nodded and turned to leave, but I then turned back around as I felt her small hand tugging on my sleeve. "Do you think any less of me?"

"I haven't found anything to indicate that I should." Sakura coloured, and let go of me, and I took this as permission to leave.

888

When I returned, Sakura was in the shower, I could hear the pounding of it from her bedroom. She had left the window open for me, and I flopped onto her bed as I waited for her to be done. I dumped the file onto the pillow next to me, and lazily slid my gaze over her belongings. Sakura was a very neat person, almost to the extent of OCD. Her books were alphabetised, and placed on the shelves so that they were all in line and ones of very different size were placed elsewhere. Very neat.

That led me to her other material, but before I had dragged out the box of goodies, Sakura came back into the room looking absolutely adorable with messy half dry hair and a huge fluffy white dressing gown that reached her favourite fluffy bunny slippers. She definitely didn't wear sexy pyjama's, but with Sakura this was almost as good. She looked adorable like a fluffy owl, and very cuddly.

"Let's see then." She demanded softly, and shuffled over to me. I reached over and pulled her close to me, dropping the file onto her lap.

"Take your time."

**A/N - Hello to you observant people, if you had not noticed, I have now changed my penname to Kashi-Cookie-Monster, formerly ilygodot. As usual, this is not Beta'd so I am sorry for any mistakes, and I shall try to update soon.**

**R&R**


	15. Married

Sakura's expression visibly slid the more she read. Her gentle fingers held the documents like they were something precious to her, like they were the most beautiful lifeline. Her fingertips ran across the corners of every page, almost caressing the paper. Her eyes held absolute certainty and wonderment. She spent long moments on every sheet, memorising it. She moved on though, quickly shuffling the paper to the back and eagerly eyeing the next. Kakashi's arm held her close to him, his eyes stuck on her face as she took in everything written about herself and her family.

She paused a very long while on her parents marriage certificate. Her expression was unreadable, an after a short while she zoned out, and tears began to fall over her soft cheeks. Kakashi looked down at the certificate, trying to work out what could have set her off, but to no avail. True, he hadn't read all of this from start to finish, only really glanced through it, and things that were in separate envelopes had stayed that way. What could upset her though about a marriage certificate? Was it just the proof that her parents had existed, that they had been married?

Kakashi frowned, trying to work her out. " Sakura…?" He asked gently. "Sak," He shook her gently, moving the file off her lap, only to have her snap out of her trance and grab it back from him. Her eyes were moving now, searching over it, but she still wasn't quite right. So something about this marriage certificate wasn't right.

"Sakura," He asked gently. "what's wrong?"

Her eyes met his and her nose crinkled up slightly as she did when trying to puzzle something out. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi shot her a look, wondering how to phrase this remotely considerately. This wasn't really his forte, he really didn't find himself in situations like this very often. "There's something wrong with the marriage certificate?"

That was what was wrong with it. He couldn't notice anything that would indicate anything wrong with it, but Sakura's eyes lit up at the suggestion, and her face filled with hope. She _wanted_ it to be fake.

He shook his head. "Nothing that I can see." He paused. "What is really wrong with it?"

Sakura ducked her head down, and inhaled deeply a couple of times, like she was about to speak but didn't. Kakashi didn't expect a response, but if she was heading towards one he certainly wasn't going to rush her. He didn't want to scare her off.

"I,-" She tensed, her body coiled tightly in defence, or an attempt not to cry. "They weren't married. Not really." She pushed the paper aside. "So there shouldn't be a marriage certificate saying that they were."

Kakashi pulled out the wedding photo, confused. "What do you mean?" He asked, showing her the photo. "This says that they were."

"That means nothing."

"This shows that there was a ceremony, and the certificate is legal proof." He said quietly.

"That means NOTHING!" Sakura shouted, springing up to stand up in front of him, her eyes blazing with fury and the documents scattered over her floor and bed. "They did not love each other!" She screamed furiously. She pointed to the discarded photo. "They were not happy together! A dress, a ring and a marriage certificate do NOT make them married! They weren't."

And just as easily as the fight had come it drained out of her, and she sank to the floor sobbing with her arms wrapped around herself. She looked so young like this, crying and shaking, her lips quivering. She looked so vulnerable.

Kakashi sunk to the floor beside her, pulling her to him and rocking her back and forth silently. He had said enough, and seemingly Sakura had heard and seen enough for now.

Kakashi only hoped that in time, she would open up to him, and that he could fully understand.

888

"Sakura says that her parents were not married." Jiraiya frowned.

"Well, legally they were. Did she elaborate?"

"She told me that they did not love each other and then went into a state of denial. Do you know what she meant?"

Jiraiya lifted his team to his mouth and paused for a moment. "Well, Kakashi. Some people can see things differently to others. Define marriage."

"The union of a man and woman for the rest of their lives, in front of witnesses."

"Is that all?"

I frowned, and tried to remember back to my academy days what each item was supposed to symbolise, and the dictionary definition of the word. "Um… The ring represents everlasting love, and the dress purity right? And the father placing the daughters hand into that of the groom represents him giving her into a new family…" I paused a minute. I was completely stumped.

"Everlasting love? Was that the point?"

Jiraiya nodded. " The couple vow to love each other, and the ring means that they always will do. If Sakura believes this deeply then she would not consider her parents married, regardless of the proof, if they were not in love."

I frowned. "She was so young when they died. It seems… odd that she would think of them as not loving each other. Small children do not often think like that. Would something have happened for her to think that?"

"Yes, but she'll have to tell you that herself." Jiraiya sighed and leant back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. "What else did you notice about the file?"

"It didn't say their causes of death. Why is that?"

"Because it is _very_ classified, something that you could only get Sakura herself to tell you. Anyone else has been forbidden to speak of it to anyone other than those told by the Hokage at the time. Tsunade was given the information when she took over, but she guards it very closely. You have no hope of worming it out of her, and I won't tell you who else was told."

"How could I get it out of her?" Interrogate her? All methods seemed a bit strong to obtain some information that I wasn't quite sure why I wanted. I had known them, yes, as they had known my parents, and were ninja of the village but we spoke less and less as the years went by, so little in fact that they had never introduced me to their daughter.

"I think that in time, she'll come to you on her own." Jiraiya smiled. "But I will tell you that you were placed on the same team for a reason, and a time will come when she needs you to help her." Jiraiya placed his empty cup on the table and got up to leave. "I'd advise that you make sure you be there."

"How can I be certain that I'll be there. I can try to be emotionally, and for support, but how can I be certain that I'll physically be there for her?"

Jiraiya let out a short, gruff laugh. "We'll just have to tweak the circumstances a little." he replied with a wink, but didn't elaborate.

He ruffled my hair. "Later Kashi-kun. You need to organise your books again."

No, I didn't. They were organised just fine. Nonetheless, I turned to my shelves and began to poke some of them out of their places, and fit them into others, and I couldn't help but smile as I saw some of Sakura's books mixed in with my own.

888

"Right, you four. This is a very serious mission." Immediately, Sasuke and Kakashi switched their expressions to look like they were listening, and Naruto and Sakura clenched their fists determinedly. There was nothing to raise their spirits like a highly interesting, great paying mission. The greedy brats.

"Alright!" Naruto cheered and while the others were nowhere close to joining him with that, they were rather excited too.

"This mission is S-ranked, and requires a lot of subtlety." Tsunade's eyes met Naruto's. " I know that this is not a strength of yours, but we cannot allow it to become your weakness either, Naruto. Mission details will be given to Kakashi, and he can brief you before you reach your destination. Sasuke, Naruto you may lave for now."

"Wha-? Why not Sakura?" Naruto immediately complained.

"Because I need to brief Sakura on the specifics of her role in the mission."

"Bu-!"

"No buts Naruto. If you want to keep this mission you shall have to prove that you are responsible enough to handle it. Otherwise it will be given to a higher rank team."

"Then why did you give it to us anyway?" Sasuke's cool voice broke in, mush to observant for Tsunade's immediate liking.

"Because there comes a time where we need as a team to test our strengths and weaknesses." Was this what Jiraiya had meant? Had he forced them onto a mission where Sakura would be forced to tell all? He couldn't miss the fact that Tsunade's eyes had set on the pink haired kunoichi as she spoke. This was just the kind of thing that Jiraiya would do. Now he just had to not let on that he knew.

"Tsunade? Shishou, what is it that I am needed for?" Kakashi snapped out of his thoughts to listen properly. If that was the case then he couldn't miss out on any of the details given, and risk failing to keep this running smoothly. If this was something that could upset Sakura, he would be minimising the damage.

"We have a crime circuit that sits on no-mans land between us Sound and Lightning. Obviously, someone has to take care of it, and as they are infiltrating Sound, they cannot provide held. A lot of their _illegal exports_ are being taken into the rogues in lightning country, so it's left up to us.

The reason that I need Sakura is because she has medical abilities as well as the _other specifications_. To get close to the circuit, you will likely have to play as part of the club, rogue nins that are looking for work of a less legal kind."

Tsunade paused and looked between them, making sue that both of them were listening. "As a member, once you have gained their trust you will most likely be staying in one of their safe houses. Sakura, you will play the part of Kakashi's fiancé, under different identities of course. You will have to make sure that your disguises don't slip. Naruto and Sasuke will find out what they can from the neighbouring villages.

"Your task is to take them down, by any near permanent means possible. We would prefer for the main leaders to be taken out, not just the top dog, because he can be easily replaced. If you can put a halt to their operations, and find out any long term plans then that could be all that we need for the time being. This is a long term mission, and your expenses while you are gone shall be taken care of. Any questions?"

"Yes." Sakura started. "What are the _other specifications_ and why fiancé?"

Tsunade smirked slightly, pleased that Sakura had been paying attention. Her expression was quickly schooled however, and became overtly serious. "They deal with women Sakura, and not simply prostitution. We are unsure of the exact activities, but we know that many of them will need medical care." She passed Sakura a small scroll, that appeared to be completely blank. "You will use this teleportation scroll to return to Konoha. In case you are out of chakra, I have already filled it with my own, and you will only have to make the necessary hand signs to return. If there are too many people, use an enlargement jutsu first, but remember that you only have to be touching this scroll to teleport, you do not need to try and get everyone to put a palm on or even stand on it. A fingertip will do.

Women are not used as a part of the organisation, only as objects of sex. I chose fiancé because I thought this to be your best bet to not be harassed - from what we've gathered if we said wife you would be dragged off at the first opportunity. We are hoping that after a show of Kakashi's skill and a carefully woven tale of your love and why you left your village - Kakashi, you can fabricate this - the attempts will be much less. You cannot let on about having anything more than rudimentary skills, taught to you by Kakashi, but you can make a show of training together.

I am not telling you to succumb to the wills of the men there, but I will say that this mission is of high importance, and at some point modesty may have to take a backseat. You will use all that you can to get what you want out of them. Sakura, you must not react too much to the way that the women are treated there, including yourself. I am saying this for your own safety, as well as for the sake of the mission.

You will leave early tomorrow. Kakashi, that does mean early. You will be on time." She waved a hand and returned to her paperwork. "You two are dismissed."

Kakashi walked close to Sakura as he left, instead of poofing out as he normally would. He waited until they were outside to talk to her.

"You could refuse the mission you know."

"Why would I want to?" She asked him, but her voice was sharp.

Kakashi kept his eye trained on hers. "I don't know. All those women being raped and beaten, used as nothing more than somewhere to quickly dump a load, or just used for the men to take out their frustrations on." He spoke softly, almost persuasively. He didn't want her to do this if she couldn't take it. "Maybe, someone behaving that way towards _you._ Lashing out at you, touching you, bruising your skin…" He reached out to stroke her cheek, his fingers lingering. "Can you handle being so carelessly treated. Lashed out at, and not aloud to fight back?"

Sakura was frozen, staring at his face but not really seeing him.

_He pressed the kunai harder against her throat, laughing as he told her to try and move now. She tried to stay still, her eyes focused on the girl huddled in the corner, on the fact that she needed to stay alive, only to sacrifice herself. _

_The blade dug deeper with every shudder that ran through her body, sobs shuddering through her no matter how hard she tried to suppress them. She couldn't fight back, but she also couldn't help but wonder why she shouldn't. Pain speared through her with every movement of his disgusting body, piercing through her, battering her from the inside out, and leaving her feeling broken. Used. Like her pounded body was no longer good for anything, her once blinkered mind opened and tainted, filled with sick thoughts and ideas. Sometimes she had to wonder if it would be easier to just give in to him. To allow his hands to touch her, to hit her, to hurt her. It would be so much easier to lie back and let him have his way with her, to just drift away and wait until it was over. Sometimes she did._

_More often she felt that death would be preferable. She would rather be nothing, than be like this._

_The blood trailed down, covering her semi clothed body and drowning her in the pools of scarlet. When she finally gave up, she watched the trails, somehow thankful that the blood was coming from somewhere else, that she could pretend he wasn't making her bleed, in the worst way that he possibly could._

"I can handle it," She whispered, as she instinctively leaned closer to Kakashi, her shaking body wanting his warmth while her face pressed against his shoulder, breathing in his comforting scent. She took and deep breath as she confessed.

"But only because you'll be with me."

**A/N - Thanks for reading! And I'm quite happy that this is the fifteenth chapter and I haven't given up quite yet!**

**1) The wedding symbols - they tend to vary in meanings, some being more religious in meaning when told by strong Christians etc. But that is how I was always told it. Well, and that the vows are unbreakable once spoken in the presence of God, but (I do not mean this offensively) to me marriage is less of a religious ceremony, and more a celebration of love. I do not think it has to be done in a church, or only between men and women. I am not against civil partnerships.**

**2) I am not telling you everything about Sakura's parents just yet! I have left clues **_**everywhere**_** in this, come subtle, some decidedly not so. Try and guess :P Go on, make my day!**

**3) MySoulIsYoursTakeIt and Little-bad-Angel's reviews did make my day, and look, I updated! :P **

**I will be updating more often as I have began another multi chapter fic, and I really want to get this one finished. Particularly because this is getting to the point! (YAY)**

**As you can tell, being on Xmas holidays really puts me in a good mood XD Even if I have been eating in Naruto quantities for the last two weeks. Soon I shall look like a female Choji, and then I shall roll around trying to flatten people.**

**R&R **


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N - First off, I am very sorry for the mistakes in the last chapter! I don't tend to proofread, but I have now spotted more than a couple of errors, and I will be fixing them! Thank you for the reviews from MySoulIsYoursTakeIt, Little-bad-Angel, Hellcleaner, and TeamTHEFT.**

**Chapter 16**

It hardly ever rained in Konoha. Tiny splatters of rain sometimes burst from the clouds, but Konoha very rarely experienced any kind of extreme weather. So it wasa rather unfortunate that on the day that Kakashi would be roughly three and half hours late it would be outright pouring it down.

Sakura knew why, though. He was being particularly late to give her a chance to back out. It wouldn't make a difference. Her mind was set and she was not about to wimp out because of her own fear. Bravery isn't a fear of nothing, it is the facing up to of fears. And Sakura had always wanted to be brave. Her mother had been brave.

When he finally got there, he spent too long looking at her for her to feel comfortable, unable to say anything in front of Naruto and Sasuke. He was just making certain that she wasn't about to break down. Or that's what she tried to tell herself. It was more likely that he was hoping she would, and that they wouldn't be able to go on this planned disaster.

He nodded, finally breaking eye contact with her and scanned his eyes over their other two team mates.

"Lets go."

Everyone was rather irritable on the journey. Sasuke was behaving like his usual self, staring either at his feet or straight ahead, and ignoring Naruto's ramblings. Every now and then though, his eyes would flick to Kakashi and Sakura, uneasy because of the tension between them and their own obvious agitation. It set him on edge. Neither one looked like they had slept, dark circles ran around their eyes (or in Kakashi's case eye), and they moved silently. Kakashi wasn't reading, and whenever he looked like he was about to say something Sakura turned away abruptly, her gaze suddenly on something to the side of her.

Even when they had gotten ahead of their schedule for the day they kept going, gaining distance quickly as they moved efficiently and continuously, forcing Naruto to keep up with them despite his complaints of damp clothes or hunger. Unfortunately, he had enough energy to do both.

"Are we gonna stop soon Kaka-Sensei? We're ahead of schedule already! What's the rush?"

Kakashi sighed. " The quicker we travel, the longer we have to discuss mission details. If you want to know what's going on, hurry up."

"But Sensei!" Naruto sped up now, still talking and he took the lead, the other three quickly following. The area that they were travelling through was thick with trees, and ideally they would have to find somewhere slightly clearer to stop at, preferably with a nearby water source. They had enough for a few days, but it was definitely nicer to be able to wash, and they could relax about the amount they consumed once they refilled their (hardly touched) supply. They hadn't had breaks, so they hadn't stopped for a drink. The medic Sakura knew that this was reckless, but the preoccupied girl refused to pick up on it.

It was hours still until they finally stopped for the day, in a highly convenient clearing next with a lake a minutes walk away. They had only had one break before then, and so Naruto flopped down against a tree immediately, slugging his backpack off as he stretched out. Sasuke kicked him, and his closed eyes flung open to glare at him.

"What was that for teme?" He was immediately on his feet, shaking his fist in Sasuke's face, who simply raised an eyebrow and looked away.

"Hn. We need to set up camp. Or did you forget, dobe?" Sasuke smirked at him. Naruto's face turned red and he glared ferociously (or not so, depending on opinion). Naruto immediately stood up straight, an incredibly sudden change that always occurred when he was reminded of responsibility. He may sometimes forget to think, or stray away from what he is meant to be doing, but Naruto always tried his best.

"Alright! Shall I collect some wood Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi nodded and then turned to Sasuke. "You and me will catch fish. Sakura, you can help Naruto." His eyes met Sakura a little longer than necessary, and she flushed lightly, biting her lip as she turned away, quickly walking off without waiting for any further instruction. She was wary of talking to him, afraid of what he was going to say, and unsure of how she would respond. She didn't want to face him, and as usual her fear was mostly of the unknown. With this type of mission, it would be inevitable that they would have conversations that she would be awkward with, but the coward in her would not allow herself to go face him now and get it over with.

Half an hour later, they were gathered around the warm fire and cooking fish, sat in their usual pairs. Naruto and Sasuke were behaving mostly as they usually did, talking and arguing between themselves, but they could still sense the tension running between Sakura and Kakashi, in the way that they sat close to each other but made sure that they weren't touching, and how they kept glancing at each other I silence. Normally they would be engaged in conversation and banter of their own.

Sakura lowered her chopsticks, twirling and staring in the direction of the rice caught in between, but not really at it. She was highly aware of Kakashi sneaking glances at her, but she didn't dare check, only occasionally checking through a curtain of pink hair. Her shoulders were stiff, and she couldn't force her body to relax while she was on her guard.

"Sakura, I am not going to attack you."

Sakura froze, her eyes wide before she lifted her head to look at him. She had been expecting this, but that didn't stop her from wanting to run for the hills. His soft voice was soothing to her, and that would only make this worse. "You didn't have to take this mission. In fact, you still don't."

"I know that."

His gaze was piercing. "Then tell me why you want to."

Sakura's cheeks flushed at the rather personal, interrogating question. She didn't have an answer. Or at least not one that she felt like sharing with him. She raised her chin. "I am a kunoichi of Konoha. I am not weak, and I am certainly not going to let myself back out when things get tough. This mission is important to lots of people, and I am hardly going to ruin lives because I am afraid. I am stronger than that."

"You don't need to take missions to prove that. No one would think less of you for refusing a mission that no one would desire to take."

"I don't really care what other people think."

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask, unsure if how to respond to that. She'd spoken seemingly honestly, and so his words would have no effect on her. If you wanted to confide in him, or to leave, that would have to be her choice and hers alone. He smiled at her, lightening the mood with the familiar crinkle in the corner of his eye.

"Don't you care what I think then?"

She smiled back briefly. "Not particularly. Depends on the topic."

"So you _do_ want my opinion on each of the Icha Icha books in order. Right. Give me a few minutes to gather my thoughts…"

Sakura smiled properly then, and Kakashi kept up that line of discussion late into the night, distracting her from her own thoughts and feelings about the mission ahead. If he didn't know how to help her, he'd simply have to make her forget for a while.

The next morning, he was awake before she was. He'd taken the last shift on purpose, so that she wouldn't be left to wake up alone and stew in her fears. She spoke easier than she had the day before, but her wall was back up, and her eyes dampened by something other than sleep. She picked at her food, but Kakashi refused to lecture her on the importance of proper eating. He knew that she needed to pretend that everything was normal, and that there was no change for him to pick up on.

By the time they reached the town where Naruto and Sasuke would be staying, it was nightfall, but it was also a day earlier than they had predicted that they would get there. This was useful to them; if they could somehow spread word of their reasons for being there, and that Kakashi was wanting to join the crime ring then they're turning up wouldn't be completely unexpected, and they would be more likely to get in. They might even be sought out by them, and that would be easier than finding them and then having to explain how they'd tracked down one of the most dangerous and secretive (or so they thought) crime rings around.

Naruto and Sasuke searched for lodgings of any kind, while Kakashi and Sakura stayed just outside the town to perfect their disguises before finding a hotel. They changed into unmarked clothing so that they wouldn't have to immediately divulge the village from which they had come from. They may know that the leaf was on to them, and that would definitely not be of immediate help to them. They may be kept around to help destroy the Leaf, and that would be a rather difficult hand to play. Sakura's clothing was practical and simple, but also civilian. As a civilian, she would have no need for shinobi gear. It would be difficult to get any weaponry on her, and for now all she would be able to carry was a knife, as they would be searched as soon as they had found who they were looking for. As a civilian, she shouldn't know how to use weapons with any level of skill beyond basic.

Kakashi had his hair flattened over his sharing an as he couldn't keep his headband on and didn't want to raise any suspicion with an eye patch or bandana. He would have to keep his eye closed to conserve chakra, but luckily that had become second nature over the years. His restyled hair was a pale brown in colour, light enough to aalmost pass for blonde, and his eyebrows had been recoloured to match, but it didn't look right. His skin was so pale, and to Sakura the colour stood out too much against his new shade of hair, but no one else would notice; they had nothing to compare it to.

Sakura's hair was auburn and slightly frizzy, her eyes a startling shade of red. This had been designed by Kakashi in the hope that it would make the men leave her alone, and paired with her small frame, and rather small… _assets_, they would hopefully just pass her over without much bother.

"Right," Kakashi murmured thoughtfully as his eyes trailed her body, causing Sakura to flush. She knew that he was doing so to check the disguise, but the way his eye trailed up and down her body made heat pool inside her, and started an insane craving for his touch. Even if she had reacted badly, she remembered the kiss that they had shared all to well, the way his lips pressed firmly against her own, and how his tongue knew _exactly_ what it was doing… " Our names are now Hisoka and Akina." His voice brought her back into the present and she smirked slightly at his choice in names. He reached his hands out, and she instinctively took what he offered her, feeling like a huge weight had hit her head as she saw it was a ring. She frowned.

"What? Would you like me to put it on for you?" She flushed.

"Not fucking likely," She hissed out as she shoved in on her finger unceremoniously, ignoring the part of her brain that was screaming random, stupid, and somewhat inappropriate thoughts. She took a deep breath. "Last names?" She demanded, meeting his eye and refusing to entertain him by looking at all flustered or shy because of the stupid mission and the stupid ring. If he could act all clam about this, then she would too.

"Hmmm….Kobayashi. And your maiden name can be Sasaki." She raised her eyebrow at him.

"Fine."

"I think it's a nice name."

"I think you are nowhere near as amusing as you seem to think that you are."

He frowned at her in a very exaggerated fashion, and as he pulled his mask off she couldn't help but laugh at the full effect. "I wasn't trying to be."

"Yeah, right."

He scowled again. "Stop laughing at me. It's rude."

"Sorry, sulky."

He glared again before the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. "Just remember who is in charge of who for the next however long."

"Nah," She rolled her eyes. "Even if you're barking orders, I'm pulling the strings."

"Am I your puppet?"

She snickered. "Nope. I think that you are still human… scarecrow."

He nodded solemnly. "Ah. I'm your trained bit-"

_He laughed as he yanked on her hair again, pulling her head up so that he could see her tear filled eyes. "Say it, bitch!" His voice was bubbling with a sick glee and his smirk seemed painted on for good. "Go on, bitch. Beg."_

Sakura's hands curled into fists, the teasing, happy tinge gone from her face. "I hate that word."

He trained his eyes on hers, puzzling her out. "Fine. It is now eliminated from my vocabulary. Would you like to tell me why?"

Her teeth bit her cheek as she turned away and headed into town. "Lets go." She snapped quietly, her voice bitter. Kakashi followed, unsure of how to tackle a topic that was so foreign to him, the ground of it mostly untouched. It was like fighting in someone else's home territory; they had the advantage, they knew what moves to avoid and what tactics would work, while you have to fight blindly, figuring out as many of the outcomes as you possible could in the hope not to win, but at least to lessen the injury.

The problem here was that he would not be taking all of the damage. He knew how to handle being hurt, but it was the harming of a comrade that he had never really managed to tackle. He would fare about as well as Sakura herself, only he would deal with the guilt of knowing that it was his fault.

As arranged, they met with Naruto and Sasuke in the hotel, the two coming through the window so that it would not be known that they were familiar with each other. The pair had found somewhere to stay, and so they left the moment they had finished working out a plan. Kakashi left too, for information, and so Sakura was left alone in the hotel room, where she could see lights and windows from the perch on the windowsill and hear the people in the rooms next to her. She was always jumpy in new places. She heightened her senses in unfamiliar places, and the only reason that she could sleep at all on mission was because Kakashi made her feel safe.

She was still awake when he came up, freezing in her pyjamas as she sat next to the window that refused to fully close, goosebumps trailing her uncovered skin, and also probably the covered, not that Kakashi could see it. He moved silently across the room to left her cold, alert body into his arms and laid them both into the bed.

"How'd it go?" She asked him tiredly, suppressing a yawn as she forced her tense body back into a relaxed position.

"I've found them, and hopefully alerted them to our presence. The rest is up to them."

He fidgeted slightly on his side so that he was comfortable, and placed an arm around Sakura as he closed his eye, sighing contentedly.

"Aren't you going to get changed?"

"Why, wanna watch?"

She hit his arm half heartedly. "I'm not you, perv."

"No, but you've thought about me naked."

"Not likely."

"It's true, don't deny it."

She didn't. Instead, she burrowed her face against his neck, he tightened his arms around her and they fell asleep tightly wrapped in each other's embrace.

**A/N - Well…**

**1) I am very sorry for a short chapter about pretty much nothing. I will be updating quicker, and the chapters will be more interesting once we get into the mission properly. Its difficult to make travelling interesting, and I bored myself writing this, which is why it took so long. I don't think it would have worked very well though to just write 'They got to the village and infiltrated the crime ring.' It seemed to lack substance :P**

**2) MySoulIsYoursTakeIt and Little-bad-Angel both guessed at least partially correctly :P Either I was slightly obvious or you guys are geniuses. I'd rather go with the latter XP**

**3) Little-bad-Angel : Yep, they are slime balls who need their dicks cut off with a rusty spoon. I think about 30 percent of people would do the honours, and another 68 would provide the spoon. Don't worry, THEY WILL HAVE THEIR COMEUPPANCE! Once I have decided how :P **

**4) Just thought I'd point out that this fic may get slightly nasty, depending on how squeamish I get writing it. If I do, there will be warnings - I don't particularly like reading something and then getting hit with it out of nowhere. I guess you guys wouldn't either.**

**5) I think I have made Kakashi and Sakura too much like 'friends'. **

**6) Over 200 words of this is my Authors notes. Feel free to tell me to shut up.**

**R&R**


	17. Hisoka and Akina

**A/N- Thank you to Little-bad-Angel, MySoulIsYoursTakeIt and Team THEFT (Andi) for reviews. I love you guys!**

Sakura wasn't really aware of how Kakashi had got them in, ashamed as she was to admit that. Keeping in with the values of the area, all Sakura could really do was go shopping, or sit on Kakashi's knee and hope to hear something. There was of course the traditional kunoichi route, but they were avoiding that as far as they possibly could. Kakashi had given them the information when he'd been in the bar, so she had no clue how it had gone, and also wouldn't be able to ask about it just yet. As a woman she would just have to nod along with whatever her 'fiancée' was doing.

It was already driving her insane.

She was on constant edge, jumping around at the slightest noise and scanning everything with her peripherals. She did not trust these slime balls one bit, and she was determined not to act up because she had been taken off guard by their frankly dreadful behaviour. If this is how they acted here, away from the main base (they did not immediately trust Kakashi well enough to take them there), then she shuddered to think of how they would be out of public, in the place that they called their own. She had heard a little already that came as a warning to her, and she hated that for the moment all that she knew would be toned down, things that they deemed acceptable to be heard by the odd passer-by.

She'd rather die than admit it, but it made her afraid.

She wasn't used to intentionally disarming herself against men that she saw as a threat to her, and even less around men that were cruel and selfish to the core. These people did not care for others, and worst of all they weren't money motivated. They seemed to do things that were illegal because they could, just for the thrill of it, and that was honestly what really hit her hard. If push came to shove, she would not be able to negotiate with them. It would just make it all the more fun, all the more entertaining to watch her beg, to watch her cry and offer them anything that she could give them to let her be, or at least kill her, and save her the agony, the tears and the sleepless nights…

She could feel her trepidation tangibly growing with every step that they took forwards. The more they walked, the further they took themselves out of the town centre, away from the mass of people until the houses became less, and building became scarce. They were still walking through farm land, with the occasional worker out to greet them as they passed and she found herself looking for them, stepping closer to Kakashi as she scanned around for any kind form of life. Kakashi tightened his arm around her in response, squeezing her gently as he subtly kept watch on her action without taking his eyes or ears out of the current conversation. He spoke when he was expected to, saying what was appropriate for them, but there wasn't any emotion or real effort in it. If he were honest, he was wary of this situation too, hyperly aware that he had to learn their way over foreign ground. Sure enough, they still weren't far from the town where they had stayed, but once they had passed there it would be very difficult for them, with a very large distance before they reached another civilisation. He hoped they wouldn't have to run.

It was an easy terrain to work over, to be sure. It was something that he and Sakura had both trained extensively over; Naruto and Sasuke had both refused, obviously having 'better' things to do. If it came to running though, hopefully Naruto and Sasuke would not be associated with them, and wouldn't have to. The are was uneven, and the more people you have the more difficult it is to hide. Especially in an area where you have nothing to shelter you. He was preoccupied enough with trying to protect Sakura, he didn't need the boys added to that too.

One of the men turned his head to face Kakashi fully, and said shinobi allowed the man to fill his vision, stopping momentarily his impromptu search of their surroundings. That was something that he could leave to Sakura; the woman would not be expected to speak to them. That was something that he had already stressed to her before leaving; these men would notice if he were searching around while talking to them, If Sakura was inconspicuous, she wouldn't be regarded at all. So surveillance while together would be up to her. If he was without her, he would just have to be extra careful and hope that he kept his head.

The trees were thicker as the building came into view, effectively shielding it from civilian eyesight, and was chakra covered so that shinobi would not be able to sense their presence. Placed far enough off of trails that they would not get any wanderers, and close enough to a town that they wouldn't be considered out of place for being here, they really were like ghosts to be found. They fed just enough of their actions into the town that the people knew that not all of their actions were legal, but they hid the worst of it, and of course, because the town already knew 'everything', they were not questioned. They were just a local group of miscreants that everyone wanted to pretend did not exist. Being honest, Kakashi wished that he could pretend too, but he couldn't, not even for a minute. He knew what they did. And they deserved to pay for it.

Oddly enough, from the outside the building just looked like a clean, respectable place owned by a rich family, probably people who enjoyed hunting. The building was a clean white, and ivy worked its way up the walls, edging in towards the door and decorating the place nicely. The door and windowsills were a ebony colour that contrasted with it.

Odd that a beautiful place would belong to such ugly people.

Their put on politeness was gone entirely now, their looks turning leering and their vocabulary a lot more colourful. In a way it was quite comforting to have them acting like this. It was easier to deal with someone when they weren't putting on a pretence.

Once they entered the building, the white walls and shoe rack that greeted them still wasn't what they had expected. There were coat hooks as well as a stand, to accommodate for the many people staying in the absurdly large place, and the floor was cleanly polished. When Sakura lifted her gaze to glance around, she saw that a large wooden staircase was just as neatly looked after and a large grand piano topped with multiple sheets of music. The multiple doors that lead off from here gave no indication of anything out of the norm. It all appeared very proper and civilised.

She was brought back to the men as she felt a large sweaty hand shake her shoulder, and pat. He was a big man, with a fat pink face that was greasy enough to make her want to take a step backwards, politeness be damned. If she were pretending to be anyone else, she would have. He smirked over at 'Hisoka', who stared back emotionlessly, and Sakura berated herself for not paying enough attention to conversation, engrossed as she was in the surroundings.

His eyes flicked back to her again, eying her up and down while his far too moist hand lingered, drawing patterns on her shoulder as she fought the urge to cringe. She most definitely _did not_ like it here. And this was before throwing in all of the abnormalities and criminal acts that she would bear witness to. It certainly didn't help that they were to bring the men down before rescuing any hostage women. It felt like turning a blind eye, just sitting and _watching _their torment, and a small selfish part of her hoped that she wouldn't be shown them until a much later time, say the end of the mission, so that she would not have to deal with it. A traitorous part of herself that she silenced with guilt.

"Well, m'dear, would you like to see the rest of the house?" Sakura's eyes flicked over to him, and she nodded, determined not to keep eye contact for too long. Anything that she could do to keep him _not_ interested in her, she would try. Even if she had to act like a complete and utter psycho. For now though, she would force herself to treat everything apathetically, so that she wouldn't start anything with any of them

'_Best to remain unnoticed' _Inner Sakura agreed. These men were a completely different breed from the likes of Kakashi. Kakashi… the man stood merely a foot or so away, and had been much closer than that for the journey here. He hadn't strayed away from her at all, and she was placated by that. He kept looking at her to make sure she was alright, and as her 'fiancée' he had every right to. She internally cowered at being away from him here. If only she wasn't trying to avoid attention by being clingy. Shame that that might provoke a reaction in these lunatics. She would just have to cling subtly and quietly.

By 'the rest of the house' it turned out that he really meant somewhere specific. He ignore all of the doors downstairs, and instead led them up the large winding staircase and up higher still until they reached the top of the building, still without seeing any of the other rooms. Hell, she hadn't even been shown where to find a damn toilet. So there must be something important up here. Something more important than kitchens and living arrangements.

At the top here, there were only five doors; one on the left and four on the right. That in itself was odd - everywhere else there had been a fairly even split, and this would indicate that one room was the length of the building. This very large building. The doors that she had passed on her way up here had all been white on the ground floor and redwood for elsewhere. Here the doors were a glossy black.

Something that seemed somewhat right once they opened the door on the left.

**A/N - Bit short sorry, but it seemed like a good place to leave it as I wanted to update, and am also working on Taboo, and a Sasori Deidara one shot at the request of Evangeline-angel (who seems rather nice). It will be up as soon as possible, as will the next chapter of this, and of Taboo. **

**Sorry for any mistakes - I do not have a Beta.**

**Fozzie - We can divide them between us :L And I've been thinking that maybe a spork might be the way to go!**

**Little-bad-Angel - I enjoy people's ramblings, and your review made me smile as wide as Gai. I have to agree with you, and MySoulIsYoursTakeIt will lend you a spoon if you ask nicely :L **

**Andi - Cheers for the review, and it took me a while to work out that there was four of you! What does Team THEFT stand for? I don't recognise it. Confused.**

**R&R!**


	18. Iron Tablets

It was difficult for Sakura to process what was there. She could hear before she could see, and what she heard was enough to send a sword of fear through her stomach, clutch at her windpipe and send tears into her eyes that she desperately tried not to show. The walls were black and bloodstained, and red lights shone down from the high ceiling, an arch that caused al of the sounds to rise and echo hideously, replaying themselves to Sakura's internal torment. If she squeezed her eyes shut, they would not go away. If she left, they still would not go away. She felt sick to her core.

Restrained in many ways shapes and forms were women of every kind. These men did not appear to be picky in their victims, and Sakura felt bile rise in her throat as she looked around the terrifying container. One woman in particular caught her eye. A _girl_.

She looked so young. So hurt. So frightened.

"_Please don't touch me! Please! Please don't hurt me! Please…_

_I'll do anything you want."_

"Stop!"

"No more!"

"Please!"

"Mmmf!"

"" Silence.

The desperate pleas rebounded and the men causing them laughed, becoming rougher, punching harder, stabbing recklessly. This wasn't just sex, if she could bring herself to put a 'just' into that sentence. This was a torture chamber, filled with sickening sights and sounds of victims. The girl had so many injuries it was as if she were made of paper.

Cuts speared through her like she was a broken plate or smashed glass, the wounds almost see through once the blood cleared, and Sakura's inner medic cried out at the ones that weren't left to congeal. Thick tears trailed down sallow cheeks from swollen red eyes, clinging in droplets to thickly made up eyes that were wide with fear. Rough fingernails raked red trails down her ivory skin, scraping into her neck, her shoulders, smearing bloody trails down over her swollen breasts and her abused stomach to clench violently into her hips. It was malicious, intentional, cruel. And she hated every second of it with a vengeance that tore her apart. She fought against her attacker with determination, but she was never brought down by his actions. She knew what to expect. She was ready for the pain.

_His fingers trailed gently over her porcelain cheek, gently stroking away the few strands of hair that had gotten in the way. His eyes trailed over her soft smile, lingering on her relaxed mouth, her lips a vibrant red from her lipstick. He removed his hand, and brought it back down with a resounding crack._

"_Don't look at me like that, bitch."_

"_I love you." She uttered brokenly, and then she proceeded to pick up the glass from the floor, trying to return everything to how it should be._

_It never completely worked._

"Stop! Just fucking stop it, you bastard!"

A few seconds later she quieted, but only because her cries were the cause of a broken jaw.

It was sickening to watch, the way his hand so callously pulled back and crashed into her, his expression not at all changed as he did so. As if she had barely done anything to cause it. As if it were a completely normal thing to do.

To him it probably was.

Sakura jumped as that same, sweaty, disgusting hand landed again on her shaking shoulder, the skin beneath clammy and cold with fear. She didn't want him to touch her. She didn't want this shit anywhere knew her. She was nothing, she was weak, she was vile, she was defenceless, she was a murderer… She was better than this. She knew she was better than this, she wouldn't hurt people like this….

"Akina, darling?"

Sakura blinked and turned to see a different hand on her shoulder; Kakashi's. This comforted her nearly immediately, and she forced herself not to remove her eyes from him, with his sharingan covered by a contact lens. It was so closely matching his usual colour that she couldn't help but wonder if this was what he would look like with two usual eyes. It was calming… and the way his body was cradling her with his scent was soothing.

"I'm sorry, but Akina tends to get dizzy spells that are worsened with too much physical activity. We have travelled quite far today, and she could use a lie down."

Sweaty palms looked surprised. "How did you get so far when she is sick?"

"I carry her. She weighs little."

"Hmm," He scratched his chin and looked her over, not sexually, but with concern.

"Try some iron tablets. It could just be a hint of anaemia. Have you consulted a medic?"

Maybe this man wasn't so bad after all. "Akina trained as a medic, although she has little chakra abilities. She can heal minor wounds and ailments, but she doesn't know what causes her illness. We aren't sure of what could cause it, or any methods of healing it. The iron tablets sound like a good idea though."

He nodded. "I can have someone bring some to you. Come, I'll show you to your room."

Sakura was only vaguely aware of Kakashi leading her along the various hallways and down the wide stairs. She wouldn't probably know where she was, and that would probably be a good thing. She wouldn't immediately know her way back up _there_.

She didn't sleep, but none the less she was out like a light the moment she hit the large, soft, clean bed.

It was hours later that Kakashi finally got Sakura 'awake' again. He hadn't stopped trying, but he knew that it had nothing to do with his attempts. He wasn't sure how to handle it, and all he could _really _do was let her know that he was there, and that he cared, and wait for her to drag herself back out alone.

Her expression was still slightly glazed over, and her voice was hoarse from the hours of only occasional whimpers and dry sobs. Kakashi got her a glass of water, watching with care as she sipped at it slowly, waiting for her to talk in her own time. She handed it back to him, and opened her mouth, but all that came out was a sob and a broken whisper.

"We need to get them out immediately!"

He pulled her into his warm arms and rocked her backwards and forwards. "We can't yet, you know that," He replied softly. "We'll just have to work as fast as possible."

"That's not good enough!" She responded harshly. "They are in pain, we need to get them out! That should be our priority. This is sick and-"

"What, and let them just find others? If we get these woman out of here, and don't take down the organisation then they will just find more."

"They've suffered enough!"

"Well what is worse? A couple of months more, or a few dozen extra women to share it out? You know it doesn't work like that Sakura, and while we can't stop this immediately, we can stop them form hurting others."

"Stop spewing that textbook crap! Stop being so detached!" She pushed against his chest. "Let's go on a fucking killing spree and leave!"

"Sakura-"

"They deserve to die!"

_They deserve to die._

Sakura stilled at her own words, shocked by them. She knew she was right. She knew that she'd been right then, regardless of the who. _They deserve to die._ Sakura let out a choked gasp as emotion welled and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

_He deserved to die._

"Do you feel less guilty now?" Kakashi asked with a soft calming voice that only he could really achieve.

Sakura breathed in deeply. "Yes, I do. How would you know? I haven't told you."

"I know you wouldn't kill without reason. And that is a strength, not a weakness."

"Does it make a difference who you kill?"

"No. If someone deserves something, you should give it to them, regardless of who it is."

Kakashi's eyes didn't leave her own as Sakura slid her hands up to his shoulders, and slowly sat herself up until her face was at the same level as him. She kissed him slowly, gently, tenderly as she held him tightly to her.

"You deserve that, even if you were my teacher."

Kakashi stroked her cheek gently with his hands, wiping away any tears that remained.

"I love you Sakura. And you are more deserving of that than anyone I have ever known, or ever will do."

**A/N - Not particularly pleasant I know. And the chapter is short again :L Just seemed like a good place to leave it. **

**1) MySoulIsYoursTakeIt - I hurried! :P Your wish is my command, or something like that XP My sister suggested black metal chopsticks :L They were used as a murder weapon in a book that she has just given me to read.**

**2**) **DarkAngelNeko666 - Good on you :P Come to the dark side we have cookies :L Thank you for the review and for pointing out what works, and of course for adding to story alert. **

**3) Little-bad-Angel - I understand you, and don't worry, that guy is the almost niceish one. Well, as nice as those absolute fuckers can get. Shall update soon!**

**4) TeamTHEFT - I thought my paragraphs were too short :L but I shall not worry about it now!**

**5) HarryPotterFreakXD - Thank you very much! Keep reading!**

**6) I haven't written put up anything else yet. I'm putting more into this fanfic than other current projects.**

**7) Hence why some mistakes haven't been fixed. I hate going through something I've written, lazily looking through it and 'wow, this is shockingly bad'. Once I'm finished with this I'll do something better.**

**8) Nothing else to say really. I'll update soon as possible.**

**R&R **


	19. Reinforcements

**Chapter 19**

In the two weeks that had passed she hadn't been up there again. They hadn't asked her to and she hadn't gone looking. As ashamed as she was to admit it, she locked what she'd seen away, behind the black door where she couldn't see it, it couldn't harm her and she could pretend it had never happened. The filthy pigs that ruled here made her feel sick to her core, and she was increasingly anxious for the mission to end, to kill them, injure them, make them hurt. Above everything else, she needed to leave.

They would be going into the village later, to meet Naruto and Sasuke, but that wasn't long enough. She wanted to go home. She needed Konoha, and her own familiar home where she'd raised herself since her uncle's death. She wasn't used to hearing footsteps in the night and not lifting a kunai to harm her attacker. She'd done this twice to Kakashi already; once when he'd bee late coming in and had woken her up, and once when she'd had a nightmare, and started from the feel of arms wrapped around her. Everything about this place made her edgy, and she was used to sleeping alone.

Though that could change quite quickly enough, with Kakashi being the man next to her. The smell and feel of him was comforting, and if she were honest, she immensely enjoyed waking up wrapped in his embrace, as well as the handholding and kisses that were 'for show'. Particularly when there wasn't actually an audience.

Sakura added a dab more brown to the winding staircase, then set down her sketchbook onto an easel that she'd pushed across the hall to keep out of the way. Most of the men were busy or 'busy', so it wasn't really likely that they would come passed, but she didn't want to take the chance of them starting conversation with her. Her current rule was stay out of the way or look busy.

She didn't think that any of them would feel the urge to go through her work, so she left it there and wandered as quickly as she could back to her and Kakashi's room without being suspicious. He wasn't back yet, but she hadn't expected him to be, and she had probably another 45 minutes to kill.

Today would be the first time that she left the house since they had got there, but Kakashi had been given free reign and had bought her some books on the second day when he and a couple of others had gone into the village for supplies. Sakura hadn't asked what they were. She was happier not knowing.

These books were very similar to the ones that she kept at home, only civilian. There were no chakra techniques or the like, or any positions that require absolute flexibility, and Sakura found that she even preferred these. They were more about love, and the need to look after a partner than sex in itself, and from searching for books herself she knew that Kakashi must have put some effort into finding these for her. The only downside was that they weren't illustrated, but Kakashi had also found her a book of erotic images, most of which were tasteful. The gift was beautiful, and incredibly thoughtful, and had definitely done its job of taking her mind out of the desolate pit that she had fallen into after seeing The Room. She could lose herself for hours in them, and paired with the art stuff that he'd given her yesterday she now had plenty to do while here. Nothing productive though, and she itched for a useful task. Her role wouldn't come into play until the end, and wished that she could aid Kakashi somehow in the meantime. She hadn't grown strong only to sit around doing nothing.

Sighing, Sakura pulled a novel out and sat cross legged on the bed to read it, her hair fanning out around her, and grazing the edges of the book as she bent over it. This is how Kakashi found her nearly an hour later when he returned from a rather boring meeting to organise tasks of no interest to him. Nothing new.

Kakashi smiled as he leant against the doorframe, watching the unknowing Sakura calmly read.

"Having fun?"

Sakura jumped, her head snapping up with wide eyes, and she dropped her book before relaxing as her eyes met his.

"Kashi," She smiled in relief, and got up off the bed to stand next to him, fiddling with the edge of her shirt. "We going now?"

"Yeah, one sec." He slung the bag he'd been carrying onto the bed and picked up some sunglasses from one of the drawers on the table that sat his side of the bed.

"Why the sunglasses?"

"The contacts, while covering the sharingan, aren't entirely foolproof when in intense sunlight. It's supposed to be quite bright out."

"….It's not summer."

"It'll be bright, trust me."

When they got outside, it was bright, so much so that Sakura shielded her eyes, and Kakashi smiled smugly. Once they'd ambled out of view of the house, they sped up, reaching the town in only a couple of minutes. They slowed down as the buildings came into view, bumbling hand in hand through the sparsely packed streets until they reached the hotel where they had stayed the first couple of nights. They avoided the receptionist, instead walking straight up to the room that Sasuke and Naruto had book while in henge and paid for in advance. As they walked up the stairs, Sakura frowned and leant into him.

"Isn't it odd for us to just go in like this?" She whispered quietly into his ear.

"No. It'll be more suspicious if we are followed and they see us henge and enter through the window."

"If we were followed then they would have seen us running!"

"Then it's a good thing that we weren't." Kakashi smiled at the fake red eyes glaring daggers at him. She did look comically a lot scarier than she had with green eyes. Very few people suited red eyes. Sakura didn't. "We're fine, Sak."

Sakura's glare melted slightly at the use of the nickname. Kakashi didn't use nicknames, and that he did with her was both uncharacteristic and endearing. He was being friendly rather than professional, and Sakura thanked the Gods that it was Kakashi on this mission with her. While he'd always been warmer towards her than the others, his Sensei mode had vanished completely sine he'd admitted that he loved her. It was like speaking the words had drawn a line, and he didn't want to go back to the other side of it. Sakura didn't want to either.

They let themselves in rather than knocking, and Naruto and Sasuke quickly finished their conversation before looking up expectantly, not at all perturbed by the intruders; Kakashi's chakra wasn't masked. He had told them that he was a ninja, and so there was no sense in then hiding it. Sakura's was dimmed though, to show a limited ability.

"Haha, you guys look so weird. It's odd you know…"

Sasuke shot him an irritated look. "Anyway, how are you two fairing with the nastys?"

Kakashi pulled off his glasses and switched into team leader mode, springing into action.

"I have managed to integrate myself into the organisation, but have not met with the leaders as yet. There are multiple other houses; five including the head base. While myself and Sakura can work in one, we'll have to have simultaneous action taking place in the other five. We already have the location of the one here, and I have also accumulated information on three more, unfortunately not the main base." Kakashi pulled out a map of the surrounding area from his pocket, and spread it out on the bed, smoothing out all of the creases "We are here. One base is said to be about 150km north of here, and we will have to send some people to locate it properly. There is another placed roughly the same distance North East, and the third is placed around 230km South West." He pinpointed the places using a blue biro and glanced over at Naruto and Sasuke. " You'll have to send this information to Tsunade. Recommend that she sends Team Asuma with a Jonin or ANBU, and Team Kurenai as both have a medic. The team that takes the North Bases will have to split to cover it. Also, ask the Hokage if there are any other reinforcements that she can send when necessary. For God's sake write in code." he looked pointedly at Naruto. "And use your fake names."

"Fake names?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, dobe. The names that we've been using whenever the villagers have asked us for names."

"Then how will Granny Tsunade know it's from us?"

"… That's why we're writing in code."

"Oh, yeah."

Even Kakashi was openly gawking at him now. "When are you going to stop thinking like a child, Naruto? This is a very important mission, and we can't risk any screw ups. Start thinking!"

Naruto flushed an embarrassed red. "Yes, Sensei."

"Have you guys found out anything new?" Sakura asked, quietly, taking the awkward gap in conversation. Usually Kakashi could continue like nothing had been said, but he'd finished explaining, and Naruto fell into mute mode after he'd been told off for anything, particularly in recent times, as he was passed the age where he would pointlessly fight anything.

Sasuke shook his head. "Nothing of interest."

Kakashi nodded and folded up the map before handing it to Sasuke. "Well, then, we're done for now. I'll send a signal sometime during the next week or perhaps the week after, though it wont be before Saturday unless there is something important." He pulled an arm round to rest on Sakura's lower back. "Take care guys…" He gave his signature eye crinkle, before covering it again with his dark glasses. "And don't forget to brush your teeth!"

Sakura sighed. "He doesn't forget, he just chooses not to."

And so they left the building, with Naruto's indignant shouts still ringing in their ears. "Anything else left to do?"

Kakashi grinned. "Well, we do have to find you a wedding dress."

**A/N - Hello to you lovely reader, or lovely person who likes scrolling to the bottom. Very nice of you to give me some of your time :P I owe you one.**

**Little-Bad-Angel : Yup, they are absolute twats, and I couldn't help but put it in ^.^ Some things just have to be done!**

**MySoulIsYoursTakeIt: I shall see where we can find some really sharp ones :L**

**Unfortunately dear readers, I have three science GCSE exams this week, English after school tomorrow and a piece of coursework that I am redoing. I am uncertain of how quick I will be to update, but I shall try to fit it in! **

**R&R**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N - Thank you to Little-bad-Angel and MySoulIsYoursTakeIt for reviewing! You might be slightly disappointed at the start of this one, Fozzie, but we won't say never :P**

**Chapter 20**

"You what?"

He just grinned and offered her a shrug. "Well, if we're apparently eager to get married then we ought to show _some_ signs of a wedding in the near future."

"Can't get one now then."

Kakashi frowned in confusion. "Why's that?"

"Because you're here. It's bad luck."

Kakashi nodded lightly in amusement. "that's something you'll have to do on your own then."

"Or if the reinforcements come here first, we can introduce them as friends and it'll give me a reason to wander off with Ino and Hinata."

"Good thinking," he admitted and his eye crinkled up out of habit. "Well then," He paused them in the middle of the street and gestured around. "What would you like to do?"

"Anything! Literally anything, seriously. I'm just happy to be out of there."

A happy eye crease was sent her way, and Sakura immediately wondered if it was cause for concern. "Anything?"

"Well, I-" She spluttered for a second before her thoughts kicked in, telling her that anything Kakashi suggested wouldn't be that bad, slightly embarrassing at worst.

"Anything." She murmured in defeat. Kakashi smiled, a true genuine smile and tightened his hand around hers. "Come on then."

He led her swiftly along through various turns and streets until they came up in front of a large grey building with a narrow door and raised up by the small winding stone staircase that led up to it. Once they entered, they were met with mainly silence, their footsteps echoing in the tall hall.

"Wow, they really have a thing fir gothic architecture around here."

"Yeah, so impractical."

"Of course you think that."

Kakashi tugged on her hand again, pulling her to a desk where a bored looking receptionist sat reading a civilian magazine. Her voice was mostly a mumble, and Cosmo had most of her attention, so it was without small talk that Kakashi paid and received directions and a welcome booklet each, containing the 'curriculum'.

Unfortunately, Kakashi hadn't told her what for.

Pulling her along the hall again, Kakashi stopped and opened a heavy door that gave a large squeak of protest, to reveal 15 or 16 faces glaring at him in annoyance. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly and his eyes scrunched shut as he apologised.

"Very sorry for the interruption. We're here for Master Rebecca's art class."

"Very well." A slender brunette woman with a stern face spoke up from the front.

"You are late, hurry up and take a seat."

Sakura flushed and ducked her head as she and Kakashi hurried to the back ignoring all of the glaring faces that slowly turned back to face the front as Rebecca carried on talking.

"As I was saying before we were interrupted, there are a few newcomers today, and I will come round to hand out starter packs and answer any questions once I've got everyone started." She turned to the board behind her and pushed it down until they could see and image of a nude man and woman drawn in great detail using board pen, and then she stuck up a similar image next to it using blue tack. This new one was in charcoal, so no one was surprised when they were told that charcoal would be their medium for the day.

Sakura was surprised however, when they were told to draw each other. Kakashi wasn't and thoroughly enjoyed her reaction.

The red curtains that they were given to section off their area just wasn't good enough in Sakura's opinion, but it was better than some of the other groups, who weren't using them, and were shamelessly flaunting their bodies in front of each other without the slightest bit of shyness.

"This is a nude drawing lesson, but I suppose you could stay dressed if you wish."

Kakashi's deep voice rumbled from behind her, breaking into her thoughts and Sakura stopped peaking through the curtains in favour of turning to face him. Unfortunately, that wasn't much more decent. He had already removed his shirt, jacket and socks, and was in the process of yanking his nicely fitting jeans down over his ankles. Sakura found herself unable to turn away and so instead stayed exactly where she was, her wide eyes trailing over his body appreciatively.

Her gaze lingered on his _downstairs _area involuntarily, and yes, curiously, as she watched him remove his boxers with the true grace of a ninja. She didn't associate a flaccid penis with fear in any way, but she was fixated, having never seen one other than Torao's outside of medical necessity.

And of course, this was Kakashi, who affected her in ways that no one else could. And the very small fact that she would be drawing it and so examining it in greater detail. Sakura flushed at the thought.

Kakashi grinned, spreading his arms wide as he invited her to look. "Enjoying yourself?"

Sakura's blush deepened. "I-uh-y-yes…" Kakashi winked at her and her fingers trembled as they pulled her buttons slowly through their button holes. In the space of time it took for her to blink, Kakashi was stood behind her, his steady fingers replacing her own.

"Want some help with that?"

"Thanks." She replied hoarsely and awkwardly, lowering her hands and picking at her nails as she fidgeted at his proximity. He _slowly_ made his way down her shirt, and when he grazed her nipple and stroked the flesh of her stomach she damn well knew it was on purpose. She also knew that it made her feel similar to the books that she read, only more intense.

"This is an art class, **not** an orgy."

Sakura jumped at the sound of Rebecca's voice cutting into her rather _happy_ thoughts, and could hear a slight growl from Kakashi, as well as feel his smirk shift into a scowl against her neck.

"Very sorry, miss." Kakashi interjected smoothly before Sakura could incriminate them any more. This woman clearly didn't like them anyway, there was absolutely no sense in letting Sakura's mouth run wild.

She turned to look at Sakura disapprovingly again. "Clothes off, without assistance." And with that she yanked the curtain out of the way and stormed off again.

Kakashi nodded solemnly at Sakura. "She's probably frustrated from seeing naked men all day and not getting any."

That brought a slight smile to her lips. "Maybe she'd been hoping to get your number."

"The only females with my number are you, Kurenai and Tsunade."

"Really?"

"Yup. That's all I need; Boss, friend, something more."

That brought colour to the cheeks of the pink haired kunoichi and she kept eye contact shyly. "Oh? And how long have you been seeing Kurenai?"

"Well," He pretended to think for a second. "She's been seeing this _Tony_ guy for four weeks, so… I guess four weeks."

"I didn't know you pretended to be called Tony in your spare time."

"Ugh, if I did, it wouldn't be _Tony_. Honestly, what kind of a name is _Tony_?" He smiled at her again, and lifted one gloveless hand to her cheek, tracing along it softly. "And I-"

"Get to work! Now!"

Kakashi got the feeling that he never would be able to finish that conversation unless they were alone, and so had to endure the next hour and a half actually drawing.

It was nowhere near as easy as Jiraiya made it look, or Sakura for that matter. While she finished the session with a highly accurate charcoal of him that made Rebecca slightly more fond of them, his looked more like a horse, not exactly the best foundation for telling a girl _just how much_ you love her.

**A/N - Another chapter! I'm not sure **_**how**_** I managed to spit that one out, but it was like knowing I probably wouldn't be able to made me more determined to get it done, although it is short. Lengthwise doesn't matter *wink wink* be happy that there is an update!**

**Also…. I HAVE 20 CHAPTERS!**

**I never saw that coming, a) because I don't finish anything, ever and b) because I had only planned it to be about twelve. Yay!**

**MySoulIsYoursTakeIt - Don't get your hopes down for good! Can't say never! :P 3**

**Little-bad-Angel - I updated :P In like four days! Can't get much more dedicated than that! :P**

**Thank you to both of you for reviewing continuously, and also TeamTHEFT reviewed quite a few… *hugs* *Hugs* *HUGS!* I would kiss you but you might find it scary :L**

**Well, this is me, letting my author's notes run wild. I foresee some mature content of a pleasant nature in the near future…hmmm. Say, around valentines…. Let's hope I get to the point where I need to be first!**

**Reviews are appreciated!**


	21. Bananas and Apricots

**Thank you to: MySoulIsYoursTakeIt, Little-bad-Angel, TeamTHEFT, S. Hatake, Akatsuki'sBloodyNekoNinja and anonymous for reviewing, you guys are the greatest!**

**Chapter 21**

"What did you think about the class then?" Kakashi asked as they slowly strolled back up to the house hand in hand. "Wanna keep going?"

"Yes," Sakura grinned ecstatically, the happiest that Kakashi had seen her since they had arrived. "It was awesome, and not just to see you naked."

Kakashi chuckled and pulled her close, She was completely herself again, if only slightly bolder. Then again, she always had been slightly lax in controlling what she said around him.

"Sak, you don't have to draw me to see me naked." He drawled, and Sakura blushed again. She'd been doing that a hell of a lot around him lately and he liked the dusting of pink on her. Of course, he preferred it when she wasn't in henge, but the mere fact that it was Sakura was good enough. She struggled with a response for a while before he laughed under his breath and took mercy on her. "Want to go grab something to eat?"

Sakura turned towards the café that he gestured towards and immediately felt slightly giddy. It was a cute, delicate looking place suited to posh old ladies and new couples who wanted their surroundings to reflect the way they felt. It was the kind of place where she as a hardened ninja felt that she didn't belong and shouldn't want to, but she secretly did anyway.

"Yes," She squeaked out and half dragged Kakashi over there grinning like a small child. As per usual for them, they immediately went on search for the loneliest corner possible, which ended with them on a table for two that was a little smaller than the others, forcing their legs close together. There was less than an inch between their legs as it was, and if one of them were to shift slightly then their legs would be resting together. Kakashi noticed this, as well as the slightly embarrassed Sakura, and immediately took advantage, sliding one of his legs between hers, but not moving too close yet. Small kisses and cuddles they had done more than he could count, but he wasn't sure how she might react to anything else, particularly in public.

Although it was a slight shock to have Kakashi's leg somewhere so close to being _intimate_, Sakura found that it was actually quite pleasant, and subconsciously rubbed her own against it slightly as she lifted up the menu that a passing waitress had placed on the table.

Sakura let out a small gasp of surprise as her eyes focused on a single item on the menu, and Kakashi lifted his head to smile quizzically at her happy expression.

"What is it?" He asked curiously, his own eyes returning to his own menu to search for what had prompted such a response from her. Sakura giggled, slightly giddily, knowing that he would not find it. He carried on looking until the waitress came to take their order.

"Apricot and banana pie please!" Sakura ordered excitedly, her expression a whole type of happy that Kakashi had never seen before.

"Ah, - same please." He ordered baffled as the rotund brunette turned to him. Sakura beamed as the woman left, taking away their menus.

"What's with apricot and banana then, Sakura?"

She smiled softly now, the excitement in her eyes fading into a quiet calmness that looked fitting, but at the same time slightly out of place on her.

"My mother used to make it when I was small. I don't remember much about my parents, but I remember that. She only made it when she was happy or when she wanted to cheer me up. I helped her sometimes. It was something that we did together..." Sakura leant forwards slightly, resting her hands in her lap. Her gaze was directed down to the table but every few seconds or so it would flick up to meet his. She was leaning but not hunched over; she was entirely relaxed.

Unsure of what to say, Kakashi reached under the table for her hand and wrapped both of his around it firmly, using his fingertips to caress the skin until their plates arrived.

"As good as you remember?"

"Almost?" Sakura replied sadly. "My mum always drizzled honey on the top and made a flower out of spare banana and apricots. It's probably just the presentation, but it's just not the same you know?"

Kakashi smiled knowingly and nodded. When the waitress came back a little while later with the check he asked how much of the pie they had left.

"Um… nine slices?" She replied unsurely.

"We'll take them," Kakashi grinned again. "And do you have any spare bananas and apricots?"

"Um, I'll go check." She rushed off again, and when Kakashi and Sakura left about 15 minutes later, it was with 10 slices (apparently the waitress had wanted to keep one for herself) but unfortunately no spare bananas or apricots.

The cool late-evening breeze hit them gently and Kakashi sighed. "I suppose we'd better be heading back."

Sakura nodded, and Kakashi noted, even as they turned away from the town, left the small buzz of people, and walked through that tall door, the small smile on Sakura's face didn't fade.

888

"Hm hm hm, hm hhhmmmmm" Sakura hummed as she cleaned a small, intricate black table that stood in the hallway. She had opened all of the curtains here as well, as she couldn't see any reason why these ones ought to be closed.

This was something that occupied her time when she was in a completely tranquil mood, much like cooking. She had the area to herself, as she often did, and in her recent calm state she felt comfortable being out here. No one was out here, so there was no point in her constantly hiding, or sneaking around, afraid. She was absolutely fine here.

"Hmm hm hmmmm… and if I told you I loved you…."

_Thud!_

"Would it make you wanna stayyyy? I'm sorry for the way…"

_Thud._

"I make you feel day after day…."

_Thud. _

"It's nice to hear a girl sing."

Sakura froze, dropping the cloth onto the surface momentarily before picking it up and continuing, happy that she had her back to the man and he couldn't see her response. She finished polishing the surface, and moved down to reach the legs, feeling slightly vulnerable and wary of her position, forcing her body to remain lax as she waited for the man to leave.

He _would_ leave…

She felt rather than heard him moving closer to her; he moved silently.

_Stalking the prey._

"Huhhhh," Sakura fought to keep her breathing inaudible; she didn't want to encourage him, she wanted him to leave. But her gasps were getting louder as panic hit and soon enough she stopped polishing, certain that he could hear her. Hell, he'd have to be deaf _not_ to hear her. She couldn't help it, and didn't dare to turn around. How close was he? Too close?

Sakura felt her skin turn clammy and cold, a brutal frozen fear smashing over her body like ice and leaving her weak and afraid. It hurt, she as shaking, she was hurt already! Why couldn't he leave her alone?

She made to turn around, only to find strong hands gripping her hips and hindering her movement, caging her in, seemingly oblivious to her frightened attempt to push them off.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Ah,… uh." Sakura let out small gasps of words, unable to make the syllables form properly. She could hear her heart pounding, made only worse by the fact that he could too, that he was trained as she had been, that he could smell her fear.

That that excited him.

His rough hands trailed inwards to push up her stomach, disgust trailing up with it to linger in her throat and eyes, and if it weren't for the dry feel that her mouth currently held she might've been sick.

'_At least that might make him leave us alone…'_

"_Please don't!" Sobs wracked her body in inelegant uncontrollable waves. "I-" She stopped trying to talk, but the crying stayed, silent now and she looked at her, at how vulnerable she was, at how much she needed her. _

_She stayed like this until it was over, until he left, until crying was all that was left for both of them._

"_I'll stay for you." She whispered. "And one day, I'll be strong enough for us to leave."_

Sakura shook, her fingers fumbling again as she tried to pry his hands off of her. She knew it wouldn't work. He was a ninja, he was stronger than her. She couldn't use chakra.

"Please stop!"

"_Please stop!"_

She gasped out the words, amazed that she'd even managed that much. It was like she didn't exist, that this was someone else's body and she was just feeling it. Her presence had no effect on the events.

Nothing would effect the coming events.

One hand grabbed her right breast, rougher than Torao had ever been, and now she really knew the difference. His hand crushed in like a claw, tearing into the delicate flesh and sending a piercing pain through her. It was like a deep tear and sting, like someone had cut her open and probed the wound violently with stinging nettles. It felt wrong. It hurt, violated, she couldn't stop him-…

She felt the other hand slide into her trousers without preamble and grip her harshly through her panties, squeezing, nails digging in in the same way that they were on her chest. She could feel that familiar, foreign control rush over, providing a strength that made her feel power in parallel to her vulnerability. She could hurt him, she could make him scream.

She could kill him.

Without thought her chakra tried to break the bindings that she herself had put on it, expanding in the little space that it had, moulding perfectly to how she desperately wanted to use it. How she desperately wanted to use it to hurt him, to free herself, to protect herself.

'_No!'_

She had to focus on the mission, she couldn't just blow everything now. She had to help them…

"_I'll stay for you." She whispered. "And one day, I'll be strong enough for us to leave."_

She could do that too, because she had to, and because no one deserved to live with this. She would have to let him hurt her, so that she could stop him from hurting the others.

As these thought washed over her, she was met with an inane sense of calm. She knew she shouldn't be, and yet she now was.

Because it was her choice.

She didn't have to force herself not to react now. She felt but didn't _feel_ him pushing her underwear aside and slamming his fingers inside her. She heard but didn't _hear _his laughter as he pushed and pulled her body around like a puppet. Only a small part of her noted with fear the sound of him pulling down a zipper.

All of her noticed a familiar chakra entering the room at the same time as his body was removed from her. All of her recognised the outraged roar that followed.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" Kakashi shook the man, smacking his head repeatedly against the wall before pulling back a fist, meeting the man's face with a sick, satisfying crunch as boned shattered and blood poured out. He drew back again, and the man cried out, blood pouring from his mouth as the next punch landed his groin.

Then Kakashi dropped him, his attacks now hitting everywhere, a kick forcing the man to be airborne momentarily before he hit the wall.

"Touch her again and I'll fucking kill you."

The man was left bleeding, broken and crying, but as Kakashi lifted Sakura into his arms and held her close, neither of them could feel any remorse, and he carried her to their room silently, neither of them looking back.

Some people deserved to hurt.

Some people deserved to die.

**A/N - Over a week, again :L In my defence, this was supposed to be up on Friday, but I only finished it now. Because I am occasionally a busy bee! I shall try to have another chapter up on Tuesday, and it should definitely be nicer than this one… *wink wink* **

**Aaaaaaaaand… I have over 50 reviews! Thank you guys! ^.^**

**S. Hatake - Thank you very much for the lovely review! *hug***

**MySoulIsYoursTakeIt - Same :L I have tactfully (kinda) managed to avoid most swimming lessons in the last few years, so God knows how I would be if I had to get naked :L Probably very grumpy and I might have an odd dissappearence…**

**LittleBadAngel - Hahaaa, neither do I if I'm honest, but it seemed like a good idea :P If I ever actually come across one I'll probably pee myself laughing :L My art group isn't even really trusted with partial nudity for our GCSE's. We're that immature :L **

**Akatsuki'sBloodyNekoNinja - Thank you for your review, and I'm happy that you like it! ^.^**

**Team THEFT - Haha, thanks for the review, and good luck with both the trip to France and finding employment! (Finding a job seems to be a real bitch at the moment!)**

**Some helpful person who did not give me their name - I know I allow anonymous reviews, but a name is nice! :L Thank you for your review, and those are points that I have considered. I have actually considered deleting the first few chapters - they only really make sense when paired with some later chapters. I know that I missed off the ages, and I put a list in in chapter 10 (?). I thought about explaining the bell test fully, but that is going to be a part of a later chapter as I didn't want Sakura's power to be too obvious from the start. I think that that would spoil her character and at times her innocence and naivety. Torao's role comes in more in chapters after that and especially if we compare him to Kakashi. Thank you for your well thought out, balanced review.**

**Oh, and also, there will be the chapter of Sakura's parents **_**very**_** soon, and then all the suspense will be over :P**

**Reviews are love guys! Hit that little button ;) **

**Kashi-Cookie-Monster**

**xxx**


	22. Snuggler

**Chapter 22**

"Sakura are you alright?" Kakashi's eyes roved frantically over Sakura's shivering form now that they were behind the closed doors of their room and had each dropped their henge. Kakashi was honestly shocked that she'd managed to hold it up, even more so that she hadn't blown their cover and attacked the man.

A huge part of him wished that she had.

He had coached her, over and over, not to show any signs of her power, regardless of the situation, regardless of how much of herself was at stake and now that it came down to it, she had managed perfectly, she had done what she had worked so hard for and he was so proud of her. It was one thing to hold strength and power and another thing entirely to be able to control it. She had come to him, after that bell test and asked him to help her to supress the power that she had demonstrated for him, and true enough that was the last time that he saw that technique. It seemed that when Sakura was truly determined, she succeeded and he admired that in her as well as her infallible ability to bounce back. Best of all, she made him feel as if it was ok for him to love her. Like it wasn't something to be afraid of.

He placed her gently onto the bed, keeping his arms around her as he felt her small fingers clinging against his thin black shirt. "I'm fine," She murmured, her calm, steady voice conflicting with the way that she clung to him.

She shivered slightly, and Kakashi lifted her chin up slightly, immediately concerned, his dark eyes searching her to make sure that everything was ok. Her eyelids slowly lowered until they cast a dark shadow over her emerald orbs, her facial features softened and relaxed as she lifted one small hand up to rest on his cheek, stroking the skin lovingly and he felt himself involuntarily lean into her.

"Kakashi…" She whispered his name breathily, and Kakashi found himself leaning down as she tipped her face up to him, pressing his lips against her parted ones in response to her silent request. For the longest amount of time they stayed almost completely still, his arms wrapped tightly around her fragile form, her hands resting on his chest and face, the only movements being that of tiny slides and presses of their lips moulding together and their chests rising and falling as they breathed.

Kakashi groaned as he felt her tongue tentatively slip out of her mouth to trace his lower and then upper lip, and pressed himself tighter against her, one hand going down to trace her thigh, only to feel her stiffen against him. Of course.

Because that bastard had been doing this only moments before.

Sakura frowned at him questioningly as Kakashi took her hand and pulled her into a sitting position, and then off the bed and into the bathroom. He checked the temperature and left the taps to run, fillinf the large tub as he watched, Sakura cradled in his arms. When it had filled, he turned the taps off and turned to Sakura, gently helping her to undress; they had not need to be shy after that art class, and in case recent events had changed that Kakashi made sure that his gaze didn't linger on anything below the shoulders. He lifted her into the tub, stroked her hair out of her face and pulled back.

"That better?"

Sakura blushed and nodded. It was perfect, exactly what she needed in all honesty. He seemed to understand her need to be clean, to wipe that man's touched off of her skin. Kakashi _understood_ and that more than anything reaffirmed to her how much she really wanted him, how much she trusted him with her body.

Kakashi turned to leave, ignoring how much he wanted to be with her, bathing her _inside_ her. That could wait, and her would wait, as long as she wanted, even if she never did. He wouldn't blame her if being here scarred her for life. What she wanted came first and if that included a lifetime of no sex, then Kakashi could get used to his hand.

Before he had turned away fully however, he felt a tug on his shirt sleeve and looked down to see a pale bubble covered hand, pink messy hair and the most beautiful smile that he had ever seen. It wasn't a grin or a laugh of an expression of mocking, instead it was a small smile of accepting invitation, and her free hand patted the bubbles beside her. The hand holding his shirt tugged up as far as she could, not high enough to take it off, and Kakashi obliged, unbuttoning his shirt and letting it fall to the ground, reassured when Sakura began eagerly exploring his chest with first her eyes and then her hands, moving lower to tug at her trousers, and then his boxers, before he had even finished tugging the black garment off of his feet. Seconds later he stood before her naked, his eyes roving her face, waiting for a confirmation. When Sakura pulled him to her, that was enough.

Kakashi sighed as he sunk in, feeling the warm water sooth over all of his aching muscles, followed by Sakura's inquisitive hands as she traced over his body with a white washcloth lathered up with a fragrant bath gel. Not Kakashi's usual kind of product, but this one was one that Sakura used regularly, and he found that he definitely didn't mind being covered in the scent, and could easily handle it if it turned out that he still smelt of the stuff in the morning. He would prefer to smell of _her_in the morning.

Her small hands let go of the cloth but her bubbled hands remained, resting on his chest and stroking her way across the firm muscles, scraping over his nipples and tweaking them slightly before she moved slowly, _slowly_ lower. Kakashi felt his breath hitch at her torturously slow pace and picked up the discarded washcloth, lathering it up again. HE smiled down at ehr and brought the cloth to her wet body, perfectly happy to allow her to continue exploring him to her heart's content.

It made him feel pretty content too.

He gently lifted her hair out of the way, tilting his head to the side so that he could see her calm expression as she continued tracing small patterns down his stomach, hitting under the water now. He dunked the cloth into the hot water, squeezing out some of the water before lifting it up against the nape of her neck, smiling as he felt her gasp at the feel of the cloth heating her body, trails of the water that he didn't strain out running down over her back until it hit the bubbles that lightly surrounded her in the water. Kakashi kept his right hand in her hair, massaging her head gently as he held her rosette locks out of the way, moving the cloth in circles down over her shoulder blades and lower, moving at a snail's pace similar to her own as he skirted around to play across her ribcage and back up to her breast, caressing _around_ her nipple but not on it, creating a friction that drove her mad whilst denying her what she wanted more. Two could play at that game.

Sakura finally let her eager fingers reach below his waist, drawing circles on his hips bones before moving down, continuously lower until just when Kakashi thought that she would reach him she skirted of the side, grinning up as she heard Kakashi draw in a deep hiss of breath in anticpation for something that wasn't yet going to happen. He growled down at her, moving his head to nip at her ear. She shivered, and fought the quiet moan that needed to escape.

"Hmmm..." She sighed out, trying to make it sound like she was pondering something rather than reacting to him, an effort that wasn't lost on Kakashi, who smiled again.

"Hmm what?"

She smiled up at him shakily, trying to force her body not to melet into a pile of mush as she felt him finally grip one of her nipples through the cloth, rolling it through his fingers and making her feel a completely pleasurable texture that made her weak with pleasure. She wasn't even really sure why she didn't want to give in, but somehow it was more fun to play him at it, to enjoy the challenge rather than just allowing him to please her, and know how much he was pleasing her. Not that he didn't know already, she was sure of that.

"Just deciding what I want to do next."

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, that is a very difficult decision." And with that her reached down for her legs, tipping her back so that she had to lurch her arms out behind her to stop her head from hit against the side of the tub or under the water. She had barely got herself comfortably settled against the side before Kakashi dipped his head down to her swollen lips, growling as he tasted her musky arousal slip onto his tongue, coating his tongue and lips as her hips jerked involuntarily at rough texture of his tongue licking and teasing her clit. A loud gasp escaped her as he pulled himself slightly further down, keeping both of his eyes closely trained on her response as he slowly, sensually slid his tongue inside her slick entrance, pressing the pliant muscle up and against her walls, flicking against her sensitive wetness and dragging out to smirk at the gasp that escaped her sweet lips.

"Kakashi..." She moaned and then tensed as a particularly potent wave of pleasure shot through her at the feel of Kakashi shuddering against her. As her muscles relaxed, Kakashi could feel her growing even wetter still, the proof of her arousal sliding out smoothly to coat her sex and his waiting tongue.

Well, there was absolutely no doubting how _physically_ ready she was for this.

After only a few more minutes, Sakura found that as nice as it felt to have his warm, soft mouth on her, she needed to be able to look him in the face and wrap her arms around him tightly rather than using her fingers to trace over his face. Releasing the silver locks that she'd entwined with her fingers, Sakura pressed her hands gently against his jaw, tugging with minimal pressure until he stopped and rose against her slowly, fluidly, powerfully, and Sakura found herself feeling small and fragile beneath him. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, in fact it was a comforting one. Kakashi was a protector, not a predator.

"Sakura..." His deep voice rumbled and Sakura couldn't help but feel like she was beautiful, powerful, sexy. Because he looked at her as if she was. His eyes searched hers for the nth time that evening, but more probing this time. She could still feel the thud of her heartbeat smashing through her body and the steady thrum of her _downstairs_ areas. She shifted, the arousal painfully obvious as she felt Kakashi's erection against her thigh. She subconsciously found herself rubbing her body against his and reached down to stroke him, almost pushing the question out of his mind entirely. Kakashi knew that if they stayed in the bathroom, he wouldn't recover; the steam and heat clouding around them and the way that the water dripped off of Sakura's perect body... it was enough to make him lose control. Scooping up her slim form effortlessly, Kakashi decided it was time they moved to somewhere with a little more space. Like their bed.

Tossing her onto the covers, Kakashi tossed himself down with her, pressing his lips to hers hungrily as he tugged out the duvet from beneath them to throw it up, letting it settle on their damp, cooling forms. Neither of them felt the cool air of the room though. It was nothing more than a slight tease.

He pressed another kiss to her soft lips before withdrawing pulling back to look at her. He still couldn't find quite the right words to ask her, and so he stayed silent. She watched, waiting patiently for only a couple of seconds before she reached forward for him. Her need had no room for doubt and so she didn't feel awkward when he pulled back to allow her to take the reigns, only slightly impatient. A deep, important but hidden part of her was grateful for this and knew that it was a very good and considerate thing but the mass, and currently mush, part of her was begging for all of his attention, all over her. Now.

Luckily, she wanted a bit of control almost as much as he wanted to give it to her. She might fantasise or lust after the idea of being completely swept over and dominated, but she knew that when it came down to it she wasn't ready. She was skittish, and knew deep down that she was afraid of being so out of control and submissive with her partner. She also knew that she could really let her man do _all_ the work. If she was with a man, it wasn't just a passing thing and she couldn't bear for him to do all of the giving. It felt wrong.

Her inner grumbled. _'Yeah_, _like Torao.' _Even as that thought quietly made a subtle appearance in the back of her mind, she had to agree. Yeah, Torao really had been a taker.

Sakura smiled up at Kakashi and pushed the palms of her hands against his shoulders for leverage, using it to flip them over so that she straddled him, kissing him passionately. She kissed her way down his neck from his ear, taking the lobe into her mouth and nibbling on it so that he groaned. The sound of it made her nipples tighten, and the throbbing further known. Her lips moved south, a mass off kisses and nibbles and licks that ended when her chin nudged against his cock, and started up again when she licked his tip, all fluffy hair and wide green eyes. Kakashi's eyes shut involuntarily, and it took all of his effort to keep them open, training Obito's eye on her as she pleasured him. She went slowly as she took him into her mouth, breaking awy every now and again to lick and suck the sides, or nibble at his balls and soon enough found that she could relax her throat enough to fit in the majority of his length, leaning her head forward in such a way that she created a straighter path between her mouth and her throat, one hand at his base stopping him from thrusting up too far. The other cupped his balls.

Kakashi could feel his control slipping rapidly in the fuzzy, perfectly surreal moment, waves of sensation slipping over him and blissfully erasing thoughts of anything but this. Again and again she pulled his skin up over his head, her sweet tongue flicking in his slit. So good...

Well, good things should be had in small doses, Kakashi decided as he captured her wrists to pull her up to him. Considering where she was placed, as well as her strength, it was a very good thing that she didn't put up a fight. He kept a hold of her wrists as he kissed her, and she squirmed against him a little, frustrated that she couldn't touch him. He could tell, and smirked against her, not tightening his grip at all. She could get her hands free if she really wanted to. She didn't.

Sakura felt absurdly light as they tussled a little like this, teasing for the sake of teasing, neither of them really wanting the control. At that moment, they could give or take on who was in charge.

Sakura ground her body down against him, teasing his tip with her slick entrance. He sighed against her mouth, his eyes opening yet again to look into hers before he gently lifted his hips to slide into her, her slick flesh parting easily for his hard cock without help from his hand. She pushed down simultaneously, moving slightly harder than he was and soon enough they were sighing as his hips hit the bed again and the rested for a moment, relishing the feel of having their highly aroused bodies joined together. Sakura let out a deep, satisfied sigh of breath that she hadn't known she'd been holding and began to move.

Their thrusts were smooth and deep, each thrust for the sake of movement rather than aiming straight for orgasm, sex for the sake of love rather than release. It felt rather nice, Kakashi mused as he stroked a large hand over Sakura's soft breast. _Very _nice. He could stay like this for a while. He'd never really had this with another partner, they had mostly been borderline kink civilians with a thing for ninja who happily expected and received sharp jerky thrusts and minimal foreplay. A lot to drink and a slight dose of fear had done his job for him. This... this was intimate, somehow more so than blindfolds and spanking. This was done to show their feelings for one another.

... And there was no way that he would ever be able to spank a woman again after leaving _this_ place. After what they'd seen, the thought sickened him, even if Sakura _was_ willing to participate in that.

He tweeked her nipple, watching the way her pink hair bounced around her with her head tipped back, her arched back pushing her chest forward as she rode him. Leaning his arms back to rest his weight on his forearms, Kakashi leaned forward, taking one hard rosy nipple into his mouth to suck and flick with his tongue

"Ah!" Sakura gasped. "Kakashi!"

He hummed in response, the sound vibrating around the sensitive bud and sending a jolt of pleasure through her. She shuddered, a movement echoed around his dick and Kakashi reached down to stroke her with a smirk. He pinched and rolled her clit between his fingertips as he thrust up, his movements still smooth and fluid, only harder and faster now, still rhythmic. He could feel her thighs tensing on either side of him and moved his free hand down from her hip to clutch at her ass, kneading the flesh roughly before pushing one calloused finger against her puckered entrance.

It was enough to send her over the edge.

With a choked cry of his name, Sakura's body moved on autopilot, the movements of her body turning almost wild as she rode out her orgasm. She opened her eyes and smiled at him, still running on her high and laced her fingers with his, purposefully tightening herself around his as she kept moving, pulling him along to the orgasm that he felt rapidly building, too quick to be stopped by him.

"I love you," She whispered, and that was all that he heard before all noise was blanked out by the thudding of his heartbeat, her green eyes still what he saw as his eyes squeezed shut.

The feel of her soft hands stroking his face crept in as he came back to himself, and he opened his eyes to see her smiling gently at him, snuggling her body down to fit to his side. He grinned at her.

"Do you still think I need a new sofa?"

Sakura giggled and wrinkled her nose. "Oh, hell yes."

Kakashi's arms came around her to pull her close, nuzzling into Sakura's hair and she smiled. Kakashi was a snuggler.

**A/N – I'm so sorry that this is up over two weeks later than planned! Honestly, this was meant to be up on Valentine's day (my excuse for mostly smut) but I had to completely wipe my laptop and so I am re-writing this. My laptop, unfortunately, seems to be entirely dead, refusing to re-install windows, leaving me with a tablet PC to work on at the moment. This shouldn't much affect regular updates, it's just a warning in advance that they might be slow. Also, I am being constantly hindered by 'inconveniences' on FF. Sigh. Let's hope that everything is back how it should be soon! Cheers.**

**Thank you to Ninja Star Light, Little-bad-Angel, WhyteGriffen and MySoulIsYoursTakeIt for reviewing!**

**Ninja Star Light – Thanks for the review and I'm loving that emoticon 0.0**

**Little-bad-Angel – Yup, I had to throw in the Kakashi-hero cliché. Nothing works as well as our main character getting saved by the fitty :P :( Sorry it took longer than planned to update!**

**WhyteGriffen - Thank you so much for your reviews, and the offer of constructive criticism is always useful! Haha yeah, seemed a good place to leave it :P You'll find out what she did later... Sh! It's important!**

**MySoulIsYoursTakeIt- Yeah, same. I totally would have punched that guy in the face. My personal space is MINE :L And Yay! At least I would have a friend whilst running from the swimming police ^.^ *Hugs* (Although if we had a teacher like Kakashi to be the swimming police, it would be a lot easier to find me ;P) **

**R&R Please Guys!**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Tsunade sighed and glanced over the determined looking ninja. "I wouldn't usually feel comfortble sending so many of you, but I trust Kakashi's judgement. For all his faults, he is an excellent stratigist and if he needs reinforcements then so be it. Once he group is seperated, I expect action to be taken quickly, and reports to be handed in for all teams. I have already breifed Team Captians, and it is up to them to give you the details. You have two months at most." She flicked a hand towards the door, the other already searchng for her sake. As expected the group filed out without any further questions for her.

Tsunade sighed. The mission had better have been damn worth it. Not only for the women imprisoned, but also for her apprentice.

"You'd damn better have looked after her Kakashi."

888

Naruto slunk casually into the dimly lit bar, immediately ordering the strongest stuff they had, and in the lowest voice he could and slunk into the shadows. It wasn't to drink rather to keep up appearances. It would be easier for people to disregard him if they thought he was a troubled man, likely drunk already, trying to drown his sorrows. They were everywhere in bars, they were like advertising gargoyles.

He did find himself filling the glass though, again and again, to keep up appearances. It seemed that any ninja that came here spoke in code, or really did come here to drink. He could only hope that Sasuke had more success, and wouldn't be too angry when he came back home drunk.

The journey was a slow and lonely one, and for reasons he couldn't place Naruto found an empty echo settle inside him at the sight of his and Sasuke's temporary shared home.

He didn't want to leave here. He didn't want to be alone.

He tumbled through the door, catching the wall to keep from falling completely. He kicked the door shut behind him.

"Sasukeee-kuunnn..." He called as loudly as his suddenly uncooperative voice could. "Sasuke."

The dark haired man sighed at the state his companion was in and grabbed his arm, pulling his towards the sofa. "Sit down, knucklehead."

"Sasuke-kuunnn..." Sasuke found himself pulled onto the sofa, directly on top of his blonde boyfriend. Sasuke sighed and put his arms out to support his weight.

"Find out anything?"

"N-noooo..." Naruto hiccupped and began to cry. "I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun."

"Heh, dobe." Sasuke gently stroked the hair out of Naruto's rather upset face. "I didn't find out much either. We're going to have to sneak in on meeting where Kakashi isn't included. Tomorrow, I'll sneak into the house before they begin and see what I can find." Sasuke reached over and pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa, settling it on top of them as he gently lowered his weight down. He kissed Naruto's cheek. "For now we should get some sleep."

"Ooohhhhkkaaayy..." Naruto placed a wet, sloppy kiss on the corner of his mouth. "Love you Sas-gay!" And then giggled at the joke.

Sasuke did too. "You too, dobe."

888

Sasuke was gone before Naruto woke up, hung over, the next morning. He'd found that he ought to check out the place early; they had a pattern of discussing confidential matters before everyone was fully up and about, and Kakashi couldn't risk eavesdropping. In his place, Sasuke had left a note, with a reminder of where he was and to take some damn aspirin.

Naruto did as he was told and flopped back down on the sofa, burrowing his nose in the blanket that was still covered in Sasuke's scent. He may as well just go back to sleep.

He was snoring again when Sasuke returned, completely oblivious to his sudden appearance of chakra. Sasuke sighed and sat down beside him, lifting his head to rest it in his lap. He fidgeted, fingers stroking restlessly through Naruto's blonde hair as he fought the urge to wake Naruto. They couldn't do anything until the reinforcements arrived and they met with Kakashi and Sakura anyway. Still, that wasn't happening fast enough.

Only if they were lucky would the reinforcements arrive today, so he had to hope that they were moving quickly. They'd known some of the details and risks of the mission when they'd accepted it, but those risks were a lot higher when applied to his pink haired friend, and even more so since she was probably not aware of them. Of course, they'd hidden that part of their plan from Kakashi...

They'd have to be warned about tightening their henges and their back-up story, Sasuke realised. If they realised who they were, the danger would only get all the worse. There was no way that they could risk that. But that meant that Sakura would not be able to protect herself. Kakashi couldn't let her out of his sight.

"Naruto." He shook the boy's shoulder. "Naruto."

Sigh. "NARUTO."

"Hmmm," The blonde boy stirred slightly. "There's no need to shout."

"Hn."

888

"C'mon guys, we're almost there." Shikamaru called behind him, turning to be met with mainly focused ninja, and a puffed out trio of Choji, Ino and Kiba.

Great. Two of them were from his own team!

"You guys need to train more..."

"Hey!" Kiba yelled. "Shut the fuck up, Jonin."

Ino bristled. No one insulted Team Ten! "If you'd stop smoking, maybe you'd be Jonin too!"

Tenten laughed. "Really? 'Cause Shikamaru smokes."

Ino flushed. "And I've damn told him not to."

"Yeah, it's like we still have Asuma." Choji added in sadly. All three of them fell into silence. They'd probably never get used to the missing slice of their team, or at least wouldn't until they found someone to fill the role of their Sensei. The loss had hit Shikamaru the worst. Ino and Choji had him to lead them, but there was no one to lead Shikamaru.

"Let's get moving. Asuma would have wanted you to give missions your all, and dance in the springtime of your youth." Gai's voice lacked enthusiasm to let his respect for the deceased man shine through, and so Team 10 (minus Asuma) followed.

Despite their fatigue, the group sped up, and soon found themselves entering inhabited land again; a small village where they had been told that they would find Naruto and Sasuke. The stopped short of the actual a town, and henged themselves. They also hid any signs that the were from Konoha in their backpacks. They had been told that the enemy knew that Kakashi and Sakura were from a ninja town, as well as all their 'details'. They weren't supposed to be from Konoha however, and any signs of the hidden leaf would be met with suspicion at best.

As they found once they got there, it was a very good thing that most of the ninja would be moving on to other places within a couple of days, because there was no way in hell for everyone to fit comfortably with Naruto and Sasuke. They had two bedroom and a lounge to fit everyone into,and neither were anything close to large. Even fitting all of the ninja in standing up was a squeeze.

"Quiet!" Kurenai called softly, and all of the ninja knew to do as they were told. Mothers were scarier than most Kunoichi because they knew exactly how to reprimand and make someone feel about three years old. It was a real ego hit. She turned to Naruto and Sasuke. "What needs doing, and when will Kakashi and Sakura get here?"

"We can't easily get organised without them, but we can start dishing out tasks now. I don't know how long it will take them to get away, but we can begin work here immediately. Other locations will have to wait as Kakashi is the best informed. We only have approximate locations."

"How long do you think it will take them to get here though?" Tenten asked.

"I'm sure that they're being kept by something important."

888

Golden light trailed in through the gap between the curtains, landing directly on top of the angel Kakashi held in his arms. He'd have to wake her in a moment. She'd never forgive him if she woke up to find him gone. For the moment though, all he could do was stare at her relaxed features as she slept, and her beautiful naked limbs entwined with his. The light hit her hair, casting hints of gold in the pink locks and a warm glow over her pale face. He sighed. This moment would be ruined if he had to leave.

It was nearly lunch time however, and he had already allowed himself to sleep through most of the morning, and watch Sakura for the rest. He had to get up...

"Sakura," He turned her to face him fully, pressing light kisses against her ear and neck and jaw. "Sakura."

"Mmmm..." Sakura let out a soft sigh as her eyelashes flickered open and her half open eyes found Kakashi's silver hair buried against her throat.

"I have to go to a meeting." He murmred. "Unless you have anything important to do..." He nibbled her jaw, dark eye fixed on her green ones. "I suggest that you stay in bed and wait." He winked (or at least she thought he did). "You might find it worth your while."

Sakura snorted. "Not if you keep talking like your negotiating with a hostile enemy I won't."

He kissed her, hard. "How 'bout now?"

"Don't bother going at all."

The look on her face almost made him forget but...

"I have to, sorry." He smoothed her hair behind her ear. He leaned his face to her now bare ear, his breath tickling it.

"You don't _have_ to," She grumbled, burrowing her face back into her pillow. "I'm going back to sleep. Get going before I kill you.

Kakashi laughed, and wisely did as he was told.

**A/N - Whew, I know that was short, but I am trying to update quicker, particularly since nothing happened in the last chapter. I am trying to scoot things along with the plot now, so that's why things are getting quite jumpy.**

**Thank you to: Temarilyn for reviewing! Only one review :'( It's all alone you meanies! **

**Temarilyn - *cookie* Thank you for reviewing, and I updated as quickly as I could, thank you for the feedback.**

**R&R Guys**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Kakashi poofed out of the meeting, reappearing in his and Sakura's room. He might as well get as much info to her as he could in the time before he left and walking was a definite time waster. So would waking her up be, and true to her word Sakura had fallen asleep again. Kakashi sighed. Waking Sakura could be like waking the dead.

Kakashi prodded her in the shoulder a few times and sighed, turning to the wardrobe. If he made enough noise packing, she'd wake up on her own anyway. If not, he could always pin a note to her forehead. He sought through his things quickly, only placing absolute essentials into his pack. They wouldn't be gone too long, so he saw no real need for that to include a change of clothes. He'd shower the moment he got back, and Sakura would never be the wiser to his bad mission habit. He chucked in a spare pouch of kunai and senbon into the bottom, and secured his usual one to his trousers before he turned back to the now half-awake kunoichi.

"Morning," He said with a smile, and leaned forward to stroke some stray pink hair out of her face. Instead of a happy good morning, her eyebrows scrunched up even more.

"Where are you going?"

"Mission. It's not optional I'm afraid."

"And no one else can go?"

"I'm not too sure. But we can't really afford to test the waters lest they turn out poisonous."

"What about a woman's wrath? I thought that that was much worse."

"It is, but doesn't change anything. If I don't go, and we fail the mission, I face Tsunade's wrath once we get back. At least you'd heal me once you were done."

Sakura sighed. "I'm not going to forgive you for this." She glared, but Kakashi knew that she was only joking. The teasing glint in her eye and the hand that rested gently against his neck gave her away.

"Hurry back."

"Only because you asked so nicely." Both of them sat in silence for a moment, smiling softly at each other as she wondered why he hadn't left yet.

"How long before you have to go?"

"About 4 minutes."

"So you thought that you'd use all of them wisely right?"

"Absolutely," He grinned, his mouth lifting up slightly higher on one side than the other. "I shouldn't be gone too long, but you'll want to go see Naruto and Sasuke as soon as possible. I have the final location mapped down." He chucked her said scroll and sat down beside her.

"Will you be alright without me?"

Sakura scoffed. "Yeah, like I need you here."

"You don't mean that and you know it."

"You're right. But I'll only admit it to you."

"That's good enough."

He kissed her, slow and gentle, cupping her jaw in the palm of his hand. "You're mine Sakura," He whispered. "Mine and no one else's."

Sakura smiled. "I'd like to keep it that way too, so hurry."

"Your wish is my command."

"Yet you won't stay completely."

"Can't, not won't. And I'll be thinking of you every minute."

"Well then, I hope you don't share a tent with any of the others."

Kakashi laughed. "I thought you wanted to terrify and traumatise them?"

"Not that badly, and-"

"HISOKA! GET YOUR LAZY BUTT DOWN HERE!" Kakashi scowled at the use of his fake name.

"That'd be me. Looks like someone's a little impatient."

Sakura leaned forward and pressed one final kiss gently to the corner of his mouth. "Take care."

"Shall do." And so the silver haired shinobi saluted her, and replaced his henge before leaving the room. Feeling sentimental rather than scared, Sakura did too, following him. She saw no reason not to see him to the door.

A high pitched screech stopped her. "Akina dear!"

888

Sasuke scowled. "We're gonna have to rearrange the teams."

Naruto nodded. "Everyone rest up a little. I'll help." He pulled a piece of paper and a pencil out of pretty much no where, and found some room around the table for him and Sasuke to ponder it. "Right. We have Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Tenten, Lee, Gai, Kurenai, Bug Guy, and two ANBU wierdos."

Sasuke glared at him. "Their names are Yamato and Sai. And Shino's name you should know by now."

"So they say." He didn't comment on Shino.

"And so we shall call them."

"Whatever."

Sasuke sighed again, loudly. "Ok, we have 10 people to send out."

"Would have had 12 if we had Hinata and Ino still."

"I know, but there was nothing else to be done."

"Well, the creepy ANBU can work as a two. That's what they'd do anyway right?"

"I think that they're all going to have to work in pairs. We need to get ALL the bases drop-out."

"So yeah, two per base."

"Once we get word from Sakura and Kakashi that is."

"Shouldn't be too long, I mean Ino and Hinata have gone over there now." Naruto frowned. "Hey! Why aren't they part of the teams?"

"We need to keep them with Sakura."

"...Oh... But Kakashi's with Sakura."

"It's just in case."

"Surely that's not great use of people?"

"No, but we're Team Kakashi. Our teammates come before the mission."

"Right-oh. Suicide-sized teams it is." He thought through the numbers again. "Couldn't we go too?"

"Sure, if you wanna doom Sakura with Ino and Hinata."

Naruto scowled. "Are you sure we can't go?"

Sasuke laughed, his eyes lighting up in a way that they only ever did with Naruto. "I'm sure she's not too bad."

"Can't we tell people we're together?"

"I think bunch of them just heard you anyways."

Ooooh shhhiiittt...

888

"What the hell is going on here then forehead?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you? You've already been breifed on the mission, but I'm guessing Sasuke gave you some info to give to me."

"Right you are. We have shown our faces here in order to protect you, but you'll have to go with us to see Sasuke before anything is really done. The teams are all set, and me and Hinata are staying here with you. Come on," She motioned to Sakura to get up. "We should go as quickly as possible."

The girls hurried out down the stairs, talking ecstatically about dress shopping as they did. Ino didn't even have to fake her happiness over the shopping part. They barely payed any attention at all to the people that they passed, as they all assumed that they would be ignored in their small group. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

"Akina-san. Are you planning on going somewhere?"

Ah crap. It was crazy boss man, and with him was... that lech. Apparently dumb, disgusting parasites had quick healing times. Shame there was nothing that she could currently do about that. Instead, she turned to the man next to him.

"Yes, you see, I was thinking of going to buy a dress while Hisoka is away." She gestured to her two female companions. "And my friends came at such a good time."

"Yes..." His eyes trailed over both of them analytically, and Sakura fought back the urge to break his nose. "Excellent timing." He smiled again, only false apologetically. "Is it possible though, for you to do that later dear? Only we have some _business _to attend to right now, and we would rather not have any of the building's inhabitants leaving right now."

Sakura frowned, slightly non-plussed by his words. They didn't make any damn sense. "Of course." She gestured to Ino and Hinata. "Looks like we'll have to stick here for now guys."

"Ah, I'm afraid not."

Sakura's frown deepened. "...Fine. Go on without me. I'll catch you up. You can narrow down the dresses for me."

Meaning find out the possibilities for their _business_. After all, nothing like this had happened at all since she'd gotten here. And as Ino and Hinata left, the slow smile spreading across the faces of the men before her told her that the chances of her just going back to her room were not very high.

**A/N - Sorry for such a short chapter. Speed over length I'm afraid. Thank you to: Little-bad-Angel and Temarilyn for reveiwing.**

**Yup, Sasuke and Naruto are together. I can't really remember if I said so earlier. I think I did, but it was about a year ago.**

**R&R**

**Edit: Sorry for the absurd amount of typos. Hopefully they are all fixed now.**


	25. Baby

**Chapter 25**

"I'll just go back to my room for now then, if there is nothing I can do to help." Sakura smiled politely and turned to go, internally cursing herself about what she could do to 'help'. Bollocks. Hopefully they would just leave her alone, but as one of them now likely held a vendetta against her, it wasn't looking like great odds.

She moved away slowly, not allowing herself to show them how truly intimidated she was. Her whole body was clamming up, she could feel herself shaking, she could feel their eyes on her. She knew they delighted in this. So she wasn't suprised, but still involuntarily jumped when a hand snaked forward to strongly grasp her elbow. It wasn't a wierd or remotely sexual place to touch her, but that didn't matter. He had his hand on her. She didn't want it.

She turned around to face them, manoeuvring her way out of his grip in the process, and pasted on a suprised, and slightly confused expression. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

He smiled back, as falsely charming as ever and Sakura came to the sudden realisation that she would trust this face even less than that of his black-eyed companion. It was difficult to ever tell if he was genuine, he flickered so quickly between sick-headed criminal and decent, caring citizen. "Yes, my dear. There is something that we need your help with, medically speaking."

"Oh." Well, that was unexpected, but the small niggling feeling remained that kept her on her guard. "Well, I only know basics, and am far from calling myself profficient in medicine. Perhaps you should send for someone from the village..."

"I'm sure any skill at all will be of help in our current situation, and I'm afraid that a village healer may act... **hostilely** to this situation."

His friend laughed. "You could say that it is of a rather _delicate _nature..."

The alarm bells began ringing again, creating a migrane in the form of a high pitched earthquake in her mind, and it took all of her control and clear thought left for her to nod along, while every nerve in her body screamed to run.

On autopilot she followed them, her mind miraculously crowded and far too hectic to allow her to single out any one order of events to focus on. She was too numb to accept any one theory of what could be wrong, what the village couldn't know, what they could do to her. The worry was still there, but in her current state she couldn't place the reasons. Only the panic.

And the fear of them hurting her.

They didn't go up to the top floor as she had been anticipating. Instead they stopped on the third, and headed straight for the last door along, just a normal guestroom as far as Sakura knew, and no one had been staying in there the last time she checked. At the moment it was the room furthest away from the others; for some reason they seemed to fill the rooms from one side in, starting where the stairs were. What were they hiding in here? It couldn't be anything that bad could it? If it were it would be upstairs, but all of the rooms were soundproofed... that was how she and Kakashi had been able to talk so openly once they'd made sure that their door and windows were fully shut. Although now that she thought about it, they hadn't always... such as a small while earlier when they were able to hear the pigs yelling for Kakashi. Did that mean that they heard what was said before that? Was that what this was about?

No, it wasn't. She hung back a little as they opened the door, not wanting to be cornered in, but the moment that heavy wood was moved she knew that this wasn't about her, a least not in any objectionable way. They really did need her help, and as close as she was to throwing up she would give it.

The screams and cries were the first things that hit her. A high pitched female voice crying for help out of pain. Strong heatfelt sobs that wracked her body and an erratic chakra that demonstrated to Sakura that this woman was a ninja. She hadn't seen any women wandering around here free before. Did she work with them or was she locked up too?

The next thing as the door opened wider was the blood. Covering everything, and spilling out over the floor more by the second. The third was the girl.

Yes, girl. This girl couldn't be much above Genin age if she were average in ability. Chunin at most; since as far as she knew none of the villages were deep in war plans, and all had come to an agreement to not send children on any mentally damaging missions. It was a matter of practicality rather than compassion. And going by her bulging stomach, this girl had likely not entered the Chunin exam. How long had they kept her here? What had they done to her?

Who was it who had gotten her pregnant? By her age Sakura highly doubted that the girl had been pregnant when she came here. How old had she been when she was brought here? Had they been using her since then? She was screaming now, large sobs wracking her body as tears sreamed down her pale face from frightened eyes. It didn't take much for Sakura to realise that she was in labour. The explaining was needed for the blood.

"Oh my god..." She whispered as she hurried forward to get a closer look at the girl. "What the hell happened here? What caused the bleeding?"

"Hmmm... we can't say really. Not too sure. Your job is the diagnosis right? All we know is that she and the child are dying. Save them."

"What?" Sakura hissed as her vision clouded up, her her whole body entering hyperdrive. Her heart rate sped up and she could feel moisture gathering on her collarbone from the pressure. She hadn't gotten this worked up about a medical procedure since she was a novice, under Tsunade's careful instruction. Usually she dealt so much better than this.

It was pure instinct that got her moving, all thoughts evading her as she worked from body memory. She didn't need to consciously think, that's how natural the technique had become to her. She didn't think, she did. And that alone was possibly what caused her success. As much as she hated to admit it, it was easier to work once the girl had passed out from blood loss and she didn't have to hear her cries. She focused on the girls multiple injuries first, hoping that there would be time to save the child. Something else that had been ingrained into her so that there was no room for doubt. Save the mother before the child.

Once the worst of the internal damage was cleared Sakura turned her attention to the baby that was still inside. The girl was in labour but unconscious. There was no way that she could control it. In her current state she couldn't push. So Sakura did what was natural to her in this situation. She turned to cesarean.

She worked quickly, healing up the wound before the child was even fully removed, cradling it's naked form against her chest for heat as she finished up. The girl's heartrate returned to normal as the baby began to cry and Sakura smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as she took off her cardigan to wrap the little girl in. She turned to face her audience happily, forgetting for a moment that they weren't just relatives needing reassurance that both mother and child were ok.

No, they were there to watch her. And she had used her chakra blade...

888

"What, so you just LEFT HER THERE?" Naruto exploded at the returned Ino and Hinata. "You should have hid and STAYED THERE! What are you STUPID?"

"Shut up dobe. They would have stayed if they could, and they did the right thing by telling us what has happened."

"Sasuke-teme..." Naruto quieted down at Sasuke's confidence in the other ninja.

"Besides, we're going to need to split out now anyway."

"Yes, this is becoming very troublesome." Shikamar took over. "Regardless of knowing all of the locations, they'll be hit down hard if we even take the ones we know. And who knows? Maybe we might find someone willing to talk."

"Exactly." Sasuke added in. "Now we need you two to go back to Sakura for now and make sure everything is ok there. We'll join you either with or without Kakashi to take them down, so you are there for protection only for now got it?"

"Aye aye captian." Ino grumbled.

"Ayah, yes!" Hinata added.

"The rest of you, you need to go off in the teams we decided earlier. We've given you the coordinates." Sasuke considered for a moment. "Or more or less... Sai and Yamato, we don't have all of the places mapped yet. We need you two to hit the head base so you'll be staying here. Same for Shikamaru and Tenten."

Ino scowled at Tenten. "Sasuke, tell us why we've been split away from our teams again?"

He sighed. "Because we need to work in pairs and we have put people together who will compliment each other's skills. Shikamaru is a mid range jutsu type. Tenten can cover either short or long with weapons. We've put them together to fill in each other's gaps."

"Whatever," She grumbled. "Are me and Hinata gonna leave our stuff here for now?"

He nodded. "That's probably best. You don't want to have to lug it around with you."

"Why don't you two go with one of the other teams to the other bases then?"

"Because we were stationed specifically here."

"So? We're here now."

"We don't have all of the coordinates, as we've already said."

"So why not add more people to each team?"

"Team 7 stay together."

"But you want the rest of us to split up!"

Kurenai massaged her temples and effectively ended the discussion. "Kids, everyone is equal in this mission, and we will all be to blame if things go wrong. Team 7 took this mission, Naruto and Sasuke are organising us as reinforcements so the rest of us need to pull together and do as we've been told. All of this has likely been preapproved by Kakashi anyway."

"Ok." Ino nodded, immediately giving in, and nobody said it but they all knew it was because of her relationship with Asuma. Team Ten would do her bidding till the day that she died, if not longer. As would Team Eight, her own team.

All in all, that one quiet woman possibly had more control than any other Sensei over the younger generation. And as soon as Tsunade realised that, she ought to label the woman as next in line for Hokage.

888

Kakashi Hatake scowled as he glared behind him at his rather contemptuous team. He sighed. Even as Genin he would never have allowed Team 7 to get away with this crap speed and skills. He had to remind the idiots to even mask their trail and not take soldier pills an hour and a half into the journey. And he left Sakura's sweet presence for this?

At the rate this was going tasks that should take hours would take days, and every single hour would be an extra hour away from her. "Come on, let's pick up the pace a bit."

As all of his efforts to spur things on failed, Kakashi couldn't help the feeling of unease that sank into his stomach telling him that something was gravely wrong.

**A/N - Woo, another chapter :) Thank you to Little-bad-Angel and Temarilyn for reviewing!**

**Haha, no Temarilyn I don't think Naruto will ever bother with Shino's name and Hells yea, Angel we need to get our spoons ready! **

**R&R**


	26. Prisoner

**Chapter 26**

Ino glanced down from her perch at Hinata, concerned as she saw the look of pure concentration on her pale features. She had her Byakgan activated, but at them moment her eyes were near closed as her trembling hands clung tightly to the tree that they were using as viewing leverage. It came up directly against the window of Kakashi and Sakura's bedroom, but they had to also account for any rooms in the building from which they might be viewed. They could mask their chakra, and be quiet as mice, but that would do them no damn good at all if someone saw their bodies, sliding up the slim tree. That's where Hinata's Byakugan came in handy, and Ino knew that this would be as good as impossible without it, but that didn't mean that she felt comfortable placing her life in someone else's hands while she was unable to judge the success of their endeavors for herself. As ninja, they had been trained to work in teams, but that made her in no way comfortable with allowing someone else to do the work for her; if you want a job done well, do it yourself.

Ino reached down and gently pressed two calm chakra filled fingers against the girl, letting the chakra seep in to gain the girl's attention. Hinata's eyes opened to stare at her quizzically.

"Are we alright?" She mouthed, exaggerated words so that she wouldn't have to repeat herself. Hinata waited for a moment, checking again and then nodded. Before she'd even started to move Ino had climbed up and vaulted through the window, opening it without difficulty. She frowned. Surely Kakashi would have at least put a seal on it... or had Sakura taken it off for them?

Ino spun around the space, searching intently, but she didn't have to be Hinata to see that there weren't any visible traps. So what? These criminals were so confident that they didn't have to watch out for intruders? That was encouraging.

Hinata landed behind her lightly, checking that the door was properly closed before she spoke. "Wha-t shall we do? Sakura's not here, should we look for her? Or wait for her to come back here?"

Ino frowned. "It was difficult just getting in here. For now I think we should just wait, and if she is not back in an hour or so we can go look for her."

Hinata's eyes narrowed in fear for her friend, but she nodded anyway and rested her weight down onto the large bed, kicking her legs backwards and forwards as she perched. "Well what do we do now then?"

888

"Right then, pretty soon we're going to have to split off, so we don't need any breaks until then. The longer we can go without stopping the better because we may have difficulty finding exact locations and setting up plans for the attack. Remember, all of the breaks are to be simultaneous and we can't hold any of the buildings off because we need to do a little more surveillance. Got it?"

Kiba rolled his eyes at Kurenai. "Yeah, no looking at the scenery, we got it!" Swoosh swoosh swoosh. Kurenai spoke over the sound of their traveling, not the sound of people hitting trees or rustling leaves; they were ninja, they could move without sound. No, it was the sound of them soaring through the air against the wind as they jumped from tree to tree so as to move quickly without alerting either enemy nin or civilians.

"And I know this is common sense, but don't lose or break your headsets. If you do, we have no way to stay in contact."

"We know Kurenai-sensei. We're not Genin, you know."

"I'm just making sure. I don't want anything to happen to any of you, got it?"

Kiba grinned and raised one hand in a sloppy salute. "Yes sensei, we got it."

"Alright then. Let's pick up the pace a bit."

Kiba grinned and rolled his eyes at Choji. Kurenai was every bit as Jonin slave-driver as Kakashi was, but that was still better than allowing Gai to be in charge.

Thank god he was the other half of Kurenai's team.

888

This group could not get any more infuriating.

Kakashi clenched his jaw as he pushed on faster, forcing himself to remain silent and his tense body not to lash out at his quite frankly ridiculous subordinates. They weren't even a fifth of the way through the journey and they were already slacking off, a far cry away from the 'capable' team that The Boss had claimed them to be. This would be a much easier job solo. He'd been sent in a four man group to complete a one man mission that judging by these clowns could not be of any real importance. It was nothing more than a waste of time.

His eye widening a little as he took that in, the Copy Nin pressed on, fully prepared to leave the others behind as he thought of Sakura, his sweet little Sakura left alone in that terrible place. He never left a teammate behind, and she was his teammate, not them.

He was going to stab these people in the back anyway, so the personal hatred that he was developing for them could definitely be of use if he could control it; decent leaf ninja could kill for the sake of the mission, but someone who killed selfishly was not an asset, they were a liability and would drag the team down.

So he wouldn't touch them until that time when it was absolutely necessary.

He pushed on, ignoring the protest of his teammates until he could no longer hear them and reach their stop point in record time, passing through it and moving on until he reached the next, arriving just as the sun was about to set. He'd stop here for now, and if the others caught up with him then good for them, but if not he would be leaving early the next morning as usual, and we would be going on without them.

888

Sakura gasped as she was slung into a dark room, her form hitting against the wall as the men bolted the door behind her, leaving their protection and sensory jutsu on it to stop her from escaping. The chakra restraints that they had put onto her had been bad enough.

_Sakura looked around herself, searching for anything that she could possibly use, that could possibly help her in this blood drenched prison but to no avail. They were approaching her, but they were moving slowly and not attacking and she had broken from the plan. She had no clue at all in her panicked brain as to how she should act in this situation. She couldn't attack them. It wasn't time.  
><em>

_"Are you going to cooperate with us little kunoichi?"_

_She shook with rage, feeling the shudders of fear still shooting through her and her pride hoped that they saw it only as anger. She shouldn't be afraid of scum like them. She was a ninja, as strong as her team, hell stronger. She had no reason to be._

_ "Fuck no!" She spat out at them, feeling the kind of frustration most known by children as they try to antagonize their elders. These men were weak! She'd seen them work. They ought to be afraid of her, or at least shocked or angered by her. Instead they just smiled, and carried on walking towards her, their arms crossed as if there was no possible reason why they would have to fight._

_"Fine." The taller one laughed at her, and carried on moving towards her, but his friend stopped. He walked towards the mother and her newborn child._

_ What was he thinking? He was going to check she was alright? Sakura felt dread crash through her even as the tiny part of optimism let that thought out. They weren't going to help her. She was not naive enough to really believe that they would._

_It was no shock when it came, in the form of a laugh, the kind usually used to joke. "Put these on or the child dies."  
><em>

She couldn't feel her chakra paths at all, it was as if a limb had gone numb without reason leaving her violently confused and powerless to protect herself against even the most basic of attacks. Without her chakra she was vulnerable. Not however, as vulnerable as that child, and that alone had been enough to control her. She could never let a child suffer. She could never let a child die. They were innocent, they were weaker than she was and they came before the mission. Before herself.

That wasn't quite enough to control her nerves and fear. She'd seen what they did to the women in here, she knew of the abuse that they suffered. She hadn't yet helped them; maybe this was her punishment. She would truly know it for herself. She'd known that for certain the moment that they had brought her up to the top floor.

This room was smaller than the others that she had seen and and the window was boarded up rather than filled in or blacked out completely with soundproofing. The boards were thrown on unevenly, allowing small slivers of light to shine in, bathing her face in both brightness and shadow befitting of a prison. She understood this scene, she was confident in that. She knew, for fact, that things could get a whole lot worse.

This could be in a different setting, in a family home. This could be ordinary. This could be abuse at the hands of her husband in front of the eyes of her child. The same baby that she had just sacrificed herself for could be hers, could be here watching as she screamed, as she bled. That same child could grow up here, being told tales of how they would leave, that what Daddy was doing was wrong, that one day they would be free.

That same child could know that she lied.

This room was bare, its only furnishing being a battered chair. It could be worse. She could be beaten for nothing more than being sat on the sofa, watching her child play.

She'd been wrong before, when she'd been the one watching. It wasn't worse to be and innocent child witnessing the most horrific act of violence. It was worse to be the adult, aware of the effects. Knowing that her child was watching and that nothing was being done to stop it.

Sakura frowned as she was brought out of her thoughts by the door being opened again, but when she turned she didn't just see them men that she expected.

"Well where did these little birdies come from then?"

**A/N - Another chapter. Unfortunately I am once again having computer difficulties, and shall try and update as frequently as humanly possible. I can feel this coming to a close! Funnily enough, the original plan I had for this story ended up with Kakashi in jail as a prisoner of war... to say that I went off on a tangent with this story is an understatement. Oh well.  
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**Thank you to Little-bad-Angel for reviewing! Yeah, we might need slightly more effective weapons... rusty kunai?  
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**Reviews are appreciated. **

**Kashi-Cookie-Monster**

**xxx  
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	27. Dud Mission

**Chapter 27**

Sakura felt her throat dry up as Ino and Hinata were thrown into the room beside her, tied up, though this time however the men didn't immediately follow with the closing and locking of the door.

"Looks like Konoha's kunoichi aren't quite as clever as they'd like to think. Their top shinobi too, for that matter…"  
>Sakura gasped as those last few words sank in. They couldn't possible know about the others yet, or at least there was no way that they could have caught them, so that only left one person.<p>

Two if accounting for Naruto's stupidity.

"What the hell have you done with my fiancé?" Sakura snarled, trying to force her enraged brain to remember the mission and the parts that they were playing for it. If she couldn't do that she might make things even worse than they already were, so long as that were possible. It was bad enough that she had let on about her chakra control and medical ninjutsu. It was even worse that Ino and Hinata were now stuck in this place with her. She just couldn't stand it if they got to Kakashi because of her actions. Ino and Hinata had left, she knew. She knew their chakras well, she would have felt it if they had stayed. So either they had chosen to come back or they had been ordered to, neither of which she could fully take responsibility for. Kakashi though… hell, even if had nothing to do with her, even if another ninja hurt him while he was gone she would have to blame herself. There was no way that she could blame him; he was good. He fought well, amazingly so and he always fought selflessly. If he were here she knew, nothing of this sort would ever have happened to her, he'd never have allowed it. He had always protected her, and not only that. He had taught her to protect herself.

"Where is he?" She tried again, forcing her weak voice into a tone resembling authority. It didn't work on them, just as she knew it wouldn't. What reason would these violent men ever have to be afraid of a kunoichi wearing chakra restraints? None whatsoever. These men had no respect for or fear of women. They were always the lower beings.

"He's still on his mission little sweetie…."

"But don't worry, we can look after you until he gets back."

They laughed, sending spikes of pure fear down her spine as they approached her, leisurely, as they would a gecko rather than a dragon. The shadows played across their faces, revealing inches of skin at a time; the yellowed greasy chin, the chipped teeth and twisted grin, the evil glint of eyes. They were predators, and most of the fun would be in the fight. They wanted her to lash back, to try and hurt them. She wouldn't disappoint.

Her body was the only one that was free; the other two had been bound with rope. They had only taken away her chakra with the restraints, and she had still plenty of room to move, because they wanted her to. She'd have to play their game. She didn't have to like it.

She lashed out at them when they took hold of her, clawing at the hands gripping at her waist and ass, squeezing at her chest.

"Get the fuck off of me!" She screeched at the, vaulting her whole body at them in a bid to knock them down. It didn't work. She'd known that it wouldn't. She felt less useless like this, the adrenaline running through her body to aid her as she moved on autopilot to lash out at them instinctively. She moved without thought; what good would that do her now? She had nothing to reasonably achieve. She had no strategy. She just... did. And at the end of the day she could only hope to do that well.

She barely noticed when her back hit the wooden chair, as focused as she was on causing them pain. She couldn't hurt them really, she couldn't cause any real damage, but she could lash out, letting out everything that she had felt towards them in the entire time that she had been there; the girls kept on the top floor, the girl and her baby, the man that had tried to rape her and the men that were going to.

She kicked, violently thrusting her legs out at them until she felt herself hit a kneecap and them she kept going, grinning as she aimed higher.

"You damn bitch!"

Sakura laughed manically at his pain at her foot finally connecting with his crotch. There, that's what she had been aiming for and she'd damn got it! She felt power and excitement at the look on his face, and the medical knowledge inside her telling her all of the possibilities of what she had done. The lasting damage that she may well have caused. At the least she had caused him pain.

She could hear Ino and Hinata, but she couldn't see them, couldn't place them in the small room. She couldn't focus on their cries as they called out to her, for her. She could only vaguely take in the abuse that they hurled at the men who were fighting to get her clothes off but it made her smile.

She wasn't alone.

888

A fucking dud mission. That's what it had been. A damn shitting _distraction._ Kakashi pushed his body to it's limit as he ran, faster and faster towards that place. It had been a fucking _distraction._ He should have seen it coming, it was so frighteningly obvious.

It was so frightening.

It was so lucky that he had pushed ahead, that he hadn't stopped for the night after all. His instinct had told him that something was wrong and it was right. He'd gotten to the stop merely a few hours after he had left again to find nothing but an ambush. Not even a real fight but a 'scare'. They had brought him out there to intimidate him. To stop him from making a fuss about Sakura.

Well he had the last laugh with that bunch. He was the only one capable of laughing now. He had slaughtered them, butchered them down without a second chance and the killer in him felt no remorse.

They had angered him in the only way that it was possible to do so. They had taken a teammate. Not only a teammate but his love. They had deserved it, every second that he had taken to pull them to pieces.

Not that there had been many, as eager as he was to get back to those damn pricks running their little rape convention. If any of them so much as _looked_ at Sakura's body...

Well, it wouldn't be a memory to cherish for long anyway. They would all be dead within an hour of his return. He'd make sure of it. They deserved it too, the fucking bastards.

If they treated Sakura in a way at all similar to the other women that he had seen with them then they would be damn sorry. His sweet Sakura...

He couldn't stop it, the way that the disgusting image wormed it's way into his mind. Sakura, with tears falling down over her pale cheeks, crying out for help when he wasn't there to give it. Sakura screaming. Sakura bleeding...

Kakashi's whole body tensed as he forced himself on, maintaining a speed that he hadn't needed since ANBU as he finally came back into familiar territory, close enough at a strain to feel Sasuke and Naruto's chakra signatures, along with that of Yamato and Shikamaru and two unknown. Good, back up was here. That meant that they were already getting her out, right?

Kakashi knew that his optimism couldn't be trusted, really. If there were four signatures in the cottage, and Sakura's wasn't one of them then she was in there and they weren't getting her out. He also knew that meant that they wouldn't let him go screw up the plan either, since they were abiding by the rules so very well. Hopefully she would lose control with them.

Against his better judgement, he wanted her to use That Jutsu.

888

"Remember to keep a look out for Kakashi-sensei." Naruto rolled his eyes as Sasuke reminded him yet again. He'd only told him like a hundred times! He should surely know by now... right?

"Shall do." He called back as he turned his attention back to the equipment. Night had passed now and Ino and Hinata had not returned, with or without Sakura. That wasn't that odd, he supposed, but he couldn't shake the unsure feeling that grew everytime he checked the clock. The other teams hadn't radioed in either, so hopefully that meant that they did not need any help.

That or they had broken their radios.

Naruto fiddled with the equipment as he waited for Sasuke to come back; the time always went so much slower without him, when all there was to do was to watch the equipment and check, double check and triple check that everything was on and working correctly. Maybe it was just that no one needed any help yet. The ANBU and Tenten and Shikamaru had gone outside to train and to aqquaint themelves to each other's style so that only left him here with Sasuke, something that was normally a cause for cheer. They couldn't do anything _fun_ now though.

They were both too damn worried.

At least they wouldn't kill her, right? It wouldn't fit in with their plan at all. For their plans to succeed they would have to keep her alive, especially if they knew that she was a ninja. The same for Ino and Hinata. That's why those two had been the ones to go. The people entering the building had to be women to stay alive.

Kunoichi to be precise.

But, Naruto wondered as he checked for Kakashi yet again, feeling for his chakra's distance, he wasn't sure if staying alive was enough for them to be thankful for.

**A/N - Well here is another chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, even though very little really happened. As usual, I shall update as soon as possible despite my lack of a laptop ATM and you should also watch out for my new Vampire Knight fic! It will likely be called _A New Addiction_ and shall be an M rated YukiXZero. Cheers guys!**

**Thank you to xxSazzyBabexx, Laurie, Little-bad-Angel and MySoulIsYoursTakeIt for reviewing. Cheers for all of the reviews Fozz, they really made my day! x**

**Hmmm... yes with the senbon!**

R&R guys, and thanks for reading!

Kashi-Cookie-Monster

xxx


	28. What makes it worth it

**Chapter 28**

"Stop fighting." He hissed at her, yet again, his voice full of steel and the promise of excruciating things to come. It wouldn't work on her; nothing would. She wouldn't stop for less pain. Even if things turned out worse for it, she wouldn't stop fighting them. They were out of shape, that or they didn't really want her to stop fighting them at all. She could tell, the way that their entire bodies were ghosted in a thin layer of sweat, clouding up like a steamy mirror.

Either she was close to winning or her fight excited them. She hoped against all hope that it was the former. She was oblivious to their touches in the fighting mode that she was currently in, and she felt no damage at all from this. If it ended, if she won now nothing would be taken from her in this. She couldn't stand to see herself broken like her mother had been; still putting on the face and the mindset of someone capable of strength and bravery despite knowing that she had neither enough, and her own defense would do nothing. She kept pretending, not just for Sakura, but for herself, to feel like she still had something left of herself.

"Why should I?" She snarled back, clawing at their faces and letting satisfaction take hold as her long nails clawed at his eye, digging in to the skin of his eyelid, hard enough to draw blood and pulling down. She didn't feel any of the squeamishness that she would normally, only to hard weightlessness that took over her, forcing her to keep on going, not to stop.

"Because either you stop fighting, or she gets it instead."

Blood beaded deep red against Hinata's soft, pale throat, dripping down slowly as if some kind of water torture.

Drip, drip, drip.

It hit the collar of her pale blue jacket, staining it and expanding outwards, bleeding through the stiff material. It was hitting the jacket, but it felt like it was hitting Sakura instead.

She had to stop now. It was that or watch them tear sweet little Hinata to pieces. She choked, forcing down the overwhelming feeling that she might as well have just given in from the start.

Because there was nothing that she could do about it now. It was her or them.

888

Kakashi didn't bother to be quiet as he hurled himself through the window to land next to Naruto; they already knew that he was there.

"Where is she?" He tumbled out the words frantically, already knowing the answer but needing to here it all the same.

"Still at the house." Naruto answered him softly, concerned by the state that his teacher had returned in. "Hinata and Ino are with her." He added, hoping to console the panicked ninja slightly. It didn't work.

"We have to get them out."

"We can't, sensei. The breaks _must _be simultaneous."

"Then we'll break in twice - once to rescue the women and again later to finish the mission."

"I'm afraid that you are not seeing clearly, taichou. It cannot be done. We already know that they are not at risk of death, and so they must be left until we break in later." Kakashi frowned as he turned to face the owner of the voice. It was Yamato, ever the voice of reason in the ANBU squad that Kakashi had once trained. His morals and thought processes were both similar to Kakashi's own, and if he were deciding to play favorites, Yamato would have been his.

"How long."

"I," Naruto paused, knowing full well that he would be furious at the answer. "Three days."

888

Kurenai pushed on faster still, forcing herself to keep with the absurd speed that Gai preferred in light of recent events. Kakashi had radioed in a couple of hours ago, making sure that all of the teams pushed ahead at least a day early, using soldier pills if need be. There would be no stopping for breaks until they stopped a mile or so away from their target, and then they would begin the break the moment that the final team arrived.

She sincerely hoped that herself and Gai weren't the last team in. Kakashi would probably gut them.

Shikamaru and Tenten had left before Kakashi had sent out the message, and that meant that only one base wasn't being taken; the ANBU would have to take that one immediately afterward. They were masters at tracking and would likely be able to follow the whole group if they relocated, or if not, enough of the nin to find out who was responsible. And Kakashi would probably go to in order to bring them a whole new world of pain.

It would be pretty gruesome what he was going to do to the ones that held Sakura. She might not have been told anything, but something had definitely happened between the two and anyone who hurt her was going to suffer twice as much as she did before death took them.

888

Her entire body ached.

Her head was fuzzy.

Her eyes weren't blinking.

The blood was drying.

Sakura understood now, as she stared into space, seeing nothing, feeling nothing. She couldn't even hear Ino and Hinata although she knew that they were talking to her. It didn't matter. It wouldn't help. She saw everything, the same as she would have before. Nothing in her eyesight was damaged but she failed to connect it to the things that had once stood out in her mind.

The sun was setting. She could see it in the golden glow that crept in through the wood. But it was... sunset, just a word to associate with a idea. She knew that it must be, but she couldn't see it as anything other than that golden color and that single word.

She used to find it beautiful. Nothing seemed beautiful anymore. Something about that idea had died.

The act itself hadn't caused any real pain. It wasn't that hurtful, that physically damaging. The act itself hadn't been that different from when she had been with Torao, except for the blood. That was new. The pain wasn't unbearable, and had soon faded into the background as her sight clouded, fazing out from what was happening to her. She had stopped fighting, and somehow her panic had gone with it.

She knew that they weren't meant to be doing that to her. She'd known that she didn't want it. But the experience didn't really hurt as much as she thought it would. She'd seen it. She'd known what to expect. She hadn't gotten anything worse than that. It was when they were done that was worse. She could feel the throb and the sting down below from their abuse, and it didn't leave her when they did. She could hear the way that each of them cried out as they finished, and laughed if they forced a scream or cry from her involuntarily. The way that they spoke about her, to her. The way that they had taken pride in her bleeding form.

They were doing it specifically to hurt her, and they had _enjoyed_ it.

What was worse was that she missed the lack of 'usual' actions during it. There was no way that that ought to bother her but it did. She somehow felt strongly the lack of touch and kisses that she felt belonged with the act. She knew that if they had it would have disgusted her. But she felt it all the same. As if it were incomplete, as if it was something that **must** be done but hadn't.

She felt empty. Not vacant, but as if a piece of her was missing, and it had left the room with them. She was hurt, more than they would ever know, and more than anyone would ever be able to fix. All she had to show for it was Hinata's still clothed body.

And that had been worth it. If only they knew how to keep their word.

**A/N - Yes, a pretty gruesome chapter, with not much else happening. I wanted to make sure that I updated though, so I'm afraid I couldn't wait until I had written over 10000 words just so there would be a happy ending. I shall try and update again soon, but I can't make promises. (I'm typing this at the Library at the moment.)** **Thank you to Little-bad-Angel and Mina Luriya for reviewing. Cheers guys!**

**Angel - I'm sorreh! I couldn't really have that many close escapes, especially as it fits in for a reason! She will get her revenge... :L XXX  
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**Mina Luriya - Thank you for your lovely review, it made me smile loads :) XXX**

**R&R Guys!**

**Kashi-Cookie-Monster**

**xxx**


	29. A deal is a deal, asshole

**Chapter 29**

Sakura had no idea whatsoever how much time had passed.

The only focus she had was the light, shining into her prison. Everything else was non existent. They hadn't been back since though called away by some kind of commotion that was no longer of any kind of interest to her; she couldn't care less anymore about their plans, or about the mission. As long as Kakashi was alright, and came back for her not,in else mattered. Kakashi's life, and the freedom of herself and her friends, that was all that mattered now. Their job was pointless to her and, or so she thought a a tear slid over her battered cheek, she was no ninja.

Ninja put the mission first. They endured. And so she had been told as a young wannabe kunoichi in the academy, they detached themselves from their bodies and emotions until they were no longer related. No, she was no ninja at all.

888

There had been no word yet. Kakashi had taken over the radios for now, as he wouldn't be heading over to the building until much closer to the time. He needed to feel like, somehow, he was in control, regardless of how true the opposite was. He couldn't stand it, knowing that she was in there, what they were most likely doing to her. They were hurting her, and he hated it. His fingernails dug in again, forcing their way through to leave crescent shaped cuts in his hands as his body shook, his head tilted down to stare into the dark wood of the table that held the equipment on.

There had still been no word. No one had arrived yet, despite the increase in speed that he had encouraged, no, demanded. They couldn't leave until everyone was in had not one team arrived yet? He used to send ANBU teams on runs that length just for fun, for the short amount of peace he would get in order to read his book. This was fucking ridiculous, and getting more so by the second. There was no way that it should take them this damn long.

"Taichou, I am sure that they will get there soon enough." Yamato's calm voice broke into Kakashi's thoughts, but what he said was far from welcome. "They are not used to traveling at the same speed as us, that's all. They'll all be there as soon as they physically can."

Kakashi buried his head in his hands, rubbing his face in his bloodied gloves as he let out a shudder of breath. He tensed as he felt Yamato's hand on his shoulder. "You ought to have more faith, if not in your teams then at least in Sakura, if half of what I have been told of her is true." He grinned lightly. "Medics are pretty hard to hit down."

"Sakura is... special to me." Kakashi's voice broke at his own words, at how pathetic they were. It was ridiculous how he couldn't say it, couldn't bring into words how important she was, how much he felt for her. He could take the most intense of emotions and somehow be unable to verbalize it in a way that showed it as it was. Instead, he told of his emotions in a way that to his teammate probably sounded like nothing. The words he had chosen were just so insignificant. He wanted him to know, he wanted him to understand. So he told him the one thing that he hadn't shared with anyone else yet, not even Sakura.

"When we get out of this, I am going to marry her." And he was certain that what he said was true.

888

They'd come back in again, and she was still unsure how much time had passed, only that there had been at least a day, a night and most of another day since she'd been here. At least a night and a day since Ino and Hinata had been. Was that all that had gone? Or had more time passed with her mind and body unconscious or unresponsive?

"Get her jacket off, now." One of the men ordered, and Sakura kept her gaze focused on that specific spot on the wall that she had been staring at for the last few hours. Wasn't anything that they hadn't done already, she thought bitterly. But that request was odd. She wasn't wearing a jacket. She wasn't wearing anything.

They hadn't bothered to clothe her again after they had ripped hers off. She was reminded of that by the cold, that she couldn't really feel.

She could see the goosebumps.

Sakura sat up quickly, dizziness hitting her and spotting her vision as her quick movements were combated by her blood loss. She clutched her head, tugging on the hair at the nape of her neck as she waited for the fuzz to clear. There was a third man now, and that one was the only one sparing her a glance. They weren't here for her... the jacket that they wanted removed belonged to Hinata.

"You bastards!" Sakura screamed, her vision hazed in red as she saw them, laughing as they tried to remove Hinata's jacket while keeping the ropes on. Had they put chakra restraints on her, too? Or was she too scared to use her Byakugan? "You said you wouldn't touch her!" She roared, bringing herself to her feet from anger alone.

"Yes, sweetie..." They laughed cruelly at her pathetic naivety. "We lied."

The heat was spreading now, from her eyes out, racing through her body like lava, filling her with heat, burning fire that needed a way out. "That's not good enough!"

She was losing it. losing the tight control that she had always tried to keep on this, holding it in. It was taking over, and she was frightened... she was so scared of what she was going to do... she couldn't control it.

She didn't really want to. She stopped fighting it and reached out her hand.

888

"Only one team left now, Sensei." Naruto stated the obvious as they all strapped their equipment onto their bodies at record pace, Yamato and Sai joining them until they found the whereabouts of the final base. As soon as Choji and Kiba radioed in, they would be kicking off.

And they couldn't wait.

**A/N - Yeah, things are starting to kick off... I shall try and have another update as soon as humanly possible, I promise! But I am going to my Dad's for Easter weekend, and may not be able to update while I am there. I shall try and at least have an update before then - I wanna write about Sakura's pretty awesome Jutsu. (I've planned that bit out from the start. I wanna write it!)**

**Thank you to: Laurie, Mina Luriya, Temarilyn and MySoulIsYoursTakeIt ****for reviewing! You guys are the absolute bestest and I am imaginary hugging the shit out of you right now! :) xxxxxxxxx**

**Teehee, I am sorry if the last chapter was a little much... I tried to gloss over it! :L**

R&R

Kashi-Cookie-Monster

xxxxx


	30. Hurt

**A/N - I'm sorry that it has been the better part of a month since I last updated. Really, really sorry. Feel free to send me a review with a bitch slap in it. The only thing I can really say is that I have been busy and shall further explain in my end Author's Note.**

**Warnings - a lot of bad language and extreme violence in this chapter. If you are squeamish be warned.  
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**Chapter 30**

I trembled in fear and fury as that boiling acid hissed it's way through me, lighting the torches of my nerves and leaving me dangerous, afraid and uncontrollable.

It was eating at me from the inside, lashing out and willing me to lash out with it. I could feel the burn. It controlled me, forced me to act or feel the pain myself. My conscious thought and own directions were locked away in a diamond cage, the only place for something so precious to me but it wasn't keeping those attributes safe.

They were being kept useless, dead and unable to help me, unable to **burn **with me. I was in flames, could see the flames on it all while knowing full well that my surroundings were perfectly untouched and solid. Myself, too. There would be no injury, or rather no added injury, covering my body when this was all over lest for my hands. They would be blistered. Those blisters had stung so much as a child. They stayed for so long, throbbing. Reminding me of what I had done.

Making me afraid.

I couldn't control it, but those men could. They could rile me up like this, force me to lose what I had worked so hard for. They controlled me. They hurt me, the lost pride standing up and screaming despite the lost parts of myself that had been torn from me. When they raped me.

They owned me in every way possible.

I was their toy.

I wasn't good for anything except hurting for others. And here I was hurting again for them. For Ino and Hinata.

Hadn't I done enough for them? It was getting hotter and hotter inside me, burning my eyes as well now, wrapping around my throat and rendering me silent. This I was thankful for. They wouldn't make me scream. No matter what I endured now they would get nothing from me. I wouldn't scream, I wouldn't flinch. I wouldn't hit back unless the fire drove me to.

But I could still feel the pain, threading through my fingers. I was alright. I was powerful. I was dangerous. And I was not in control. I could see it, could see through the orange rimmed image I received that I was reaching out for him, fingers wrapping around, twisting inside his neck as the flesh and skin bubbled and burned away to allow my blood covered nails to sink inside. His face contorting in pain could not bother me. I didn't care.

The medic knocked unconscious and bound away didn't surface to rush to the rescue as flames licked through veins, setting his blood boiling, bubbling over as it shot out, covering me, splattering me. Kakashi's voice echoed in, coming from a part of me that I could no longer find.

"Some people deserve to hurt."

My lips moved along with him, finally calm and a peace with what I was doing, but no sound came out. It would have been drowned if it had.

888

"Go!" Kakashi's voice hissed frantically through the radio and the response was devastating. Squads charged through, marking their path with weapons and jutsu alike. Kurenai and Gai had used sensory jutsu beforehand to pinpoint the location of the victims and so hit with bombs.

Explosions, their targets exploding with them.

Both ninja jumped out of the way, dodging the debris that flew sharply up at them. They could see everything from their airborne position, including some signs of motion from their bloodied victims.

They had nothing personal against them. They finished them quickly.

888

They had more than enough fighters here. He wasn't needed while the element of surprise still stuck and Sakura was more important than his petty vengeance. They deserved to hurt but she deserved his undivided attention. And he knew exactly where she might be found. He could sense her.

Kakashi tore the door out of the way rather than kicking it as he couldn't spare the time to make sure that it didn't hit anyone. He chucked it behind him. He fought the urge to empty his stomach. He fought the urge to kill the dead.

Instead he went for the man that was still standing, killing him quickly with a chidori. He couldn't stand to take the time to cause him pain. He too badly needed to get rid of Sakura's. She looked so pale and shocked as he looked at her, staring unblinkingly with tears trailing down without sobs and collecting on her chin. Her body was covered in blood, a large dried portion of it coming from between her legs. Her hands were blistered. He was glad that she used it.

He briefly looked over to Ino and Hinata who caught his vision as they cowered behind her and noted that they appeared unharmed. That was a good thing, he knew, but there was no justice to him in the fact that his sweet Sakura had been singled out to be broken and abused. She'd been hurt enough.

"Sakura..." He breathed out, rushing forwards to catch her in his arms and hold her close, his breath fanning over her soft pale cheek as he laid his lips against it. His arms were tight, but she didn't complain.

She could barely feel him, but she knew that he was close, holding her blood coated form close to him, tightly embracing her. She could hear his gentle words but it was only a small amount of comfort.

"Kashi..." She whispered raspingly into his ear. "He deserved to hurt."

His arms only tightened more. "I know."

888

Sasuke finished with a quick hit as Ino entered his peripheral vision, demonstrating to the other bastards that he had only really been playing with their comrade, causing him as much injury as possible before putting his out of his misery. The prick deserved nothing better. Hinata appeared behind her too, and the men appeared to cower all the more.

"Where's Kakashi?" He called, reaching for his blade and eyeing up the remaining men.

"With Sakura." Ino replied. "She's in a bad condition so he's trying to convince her to return to the cottage for now."

"Ahh," Sasuke forced out a grim smile. "I'm guessing she's not listening?"

"You guess right." She flung an exploding tag into what looked like a mass of scared little girls, grinning in satisfaction as it gave the desired effect and the men scattered, trying to avoid as much damage as possible. "But regardless, we need to cause these bastards _pain_!"

They picked them off slowly, spending time effort and chakra on every individual victim, every prisoner that needed punishment. They'd lost all their aces and now learned of the world from the other side. They weren't liking it.

Hinata and Ino took to blocking the exits, cutting out the cowards who seemed remarkably high in number. It wasn't surprising that none of these bullies could really hold their own. Those remaining clumped together, and not a single person there could have anticipated the result.

Kakashi had lost. And these men learned the meaning of pain.

"Get back!" Kakashi roared at his fellow konoha nin as Sai and Yamato led them forwards. "We don't need any casualties of our own."

"But Sakura!" Naruto protested.

"Sakura can hold her own. And she deserves to be the one to end this. We need to get hold of one of their leaders. It's important that we get the location of the main base. Stay here."

They had no time to tell him not to, because Kakashi was already gone.

**A/N - I'M SO SORREH! Right**

**1) I broke up with my boyfriend after a year. This is why I didn't update before Easter - I felt slightly justified in moping.  
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**2)It was my little sis's bday on Wednesday so that's this week.  
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**3) My laptop is with the wonderful people at PC world and has been since bank holiday Monday. I should have it back this weekend.  
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**THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the wonderful people who reviewed this chapter - Laurie, sunshinestar16, Temarilyn, xxSazzyBabexx, Little-bad-Angel and MySoulIsYoursTakeIt. You are all lovely and I am so sorry that I haven't updated sooner. It will definitely NOT be this long till my next update.  
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**Please review,  
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**Kashi-Cookie-Monster  
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**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
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	31. Chappie 31

**Woo, thank you all for all of the reviews! You guys are the greatest, and here is chapter 31!**

**Chapter 31**

"I want you guys to teleport straight back to Konoha." Kakashi ordered, unrolling the teleportation scroll that he had taken out of his kunai pouch. He had to be careful about keeping it in there in case it was damaged, but too many close calls in ANBU had taught him that it was best to keep it on him at all times. "I am going to go with Yamato and Sai to the main base. Tell Tsunade that she can expect us back in five days. The other teams do not appear to be badly injured, so they can follow you at their usual pace. See you next week." Kakashi crinkled his eyes in a smile.

And then he poofed off again, leaving the group before they could protest, with several scared women, an unconscious Sakura, a teleportation scroll and an extremely hostile hostage.

"Well, I suppose we should do as he says." Ino murmured doubtfully.

"Yeah," Sasuke put in. "We should just be thankful that Sakura is still out of it. She is going to be pissed as hell when she finds out."

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned at the sleeping kunoichi. "And Sakura-chan can kick Kakashi-Sensei's ass!"

"So we might wanna get back before she wakes up." Ino finished, pushing them all to touch the scroll. "I'll take Sakura, so one of you is going to have to hold on to the disgusting slug."

Everyone turned and looked towards Sasuke. "Hn."

Nevertheless, he still wraped a long pale hand firmly around the man's arm, and reached out to touch the scroll with the other.

"Eww..." Naruto laughed. "You're _touching_ him!"

"You forget that I'm also going to _touch_ you."

Hinata and Ino shared a look and Ino rolled her eyes. "Everyone ready?"

The tiny letters that covered the scroll lit up blue as Ino's chakra seeped in, finding themselves in Konoha hospital seconds after the last character lit.

888

She wouldn't allow visitors yet. The nurses could keep asking, but their persistence wouldn't change her mind; they were insane. She wouldn't _speak_, she didn't want to _see_ them.

They couldn't help her.

The only person that she had ever trusted to had turned his back and now she didn't have the same energy to. He knew how hurt she was, he should have guessed the effect that it would have on her but, she realised with a start, she had never told him everything. Even without that knowledge he still should have stayed. She'd needed him.

So had the others.

Yamato and Sai would have been enough. They're ANBU.

It's wrong to put yourself before others.

Put others before yourself and look where it gets you. Used and broken and trapped in a hospital bed. How appealing.

Sakura sighed in frustration and glanced again at the clock, the only real passtime in here being to watch the time go. Nothing else held any real interest to her. She just couldn't see the point. Why would she want to watch petty love and hate stories in trash soap operas? Why would she want to read one of the boks that Ino had brought in? They were just so far from the truth. It was so difficult to force herself to believe. She hated it all.

Other things too were littered in rubbish that not even the most naive child could find faith in. She never had. The world in general was a pathetic place covered in pretty lies about healers and lovers and heroes. Particularly for ninja, who knew better but would rather believe otherwise. Civilians had it so much better.

_Really,_ she thought as she closed her eyes and willed herself back to sleep _they did._

888

He was absolutely shattered. He hadn't slept in days and he had pushed himself (as well as Yamato and Sai) to full speed so that he could get back here as quickly as phyically possible, hoping that he would be back in time for Sakura to wake. He could have kicked himself for forgetting that medics usually came to a lot quicker than the rest of the sodding world. Definitely a lot quicker than those class A assholes.

They would never wake up at all.

Sakura appeared to be out of it when Kakashi peeked his head in to see, but her chakra told him otherwise. As even as her breaths were and as still and serene her face, her chakra was erratic, and he knew from experience that Sakura did not sleep that peacefully. She wasn't snoring, screaming or hitting anyone, nor using anything that is not a teddy as a teddy, therefore she was not asleep. That was how things were in the land of Sakura.

"Sakura..." He called softly, and pushed past the curtains, pulling them shut behind him again and went to sit beside her. "I'm sorry Sakura, I thought I'd be back before you woke. I took care of them for you." He ran his eyes over her, lingering on the hand closest to him and instinctively covered it with his own. "We don't have to talk until you want to Sakura. I'm here for you."

He didn't get a reply, but a smile graced his lips when her hand curled tightly around his own.

**A/N - yay! This update is mostly to tell you all that I have my laptop back, so expect updates! There really isn't much left of this fic, so I can see it being finished in the near future :'( I still have Taboo though, and while I am mainly focused on this, Taboo should be updated really soon. I am also working on a few one-shots, two of them being Kakasaku. **

**Also, if you wish to know what I am doing, I am watching Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr is hot.**

**Thank you thank you thank you to:** **jen, Little-bad-Angel, Mina Luriya, sunshinestar16, Laurie and Temarilyn for reviewing. You are all wonderful and I would like to thank you for your support. *hugs***

**Next chapter should be up very soon,**

**Kashi-Cookie-Monster**

**xxx**


	32. The civilian life

**Chapter 32**

'Ding!' Sakura scarcely noticed the sound of a customer entering her shop as absorbed as she was in her novel. This was one of the downsides of owning a book store; she ate up most of the stock herself. Usually from the section that catered to a purely civilian setting. It seemed like a step back somehow to read the fantasies that she had believed about ninja as a child. She had to go the whole way with this transformation.

There was no sense in an addict stopping marijuana and carrying on with the cigarettes.

"Good book." Sakura started at the once too-familiar voice that she now couldn't get used to. She wasn't sure what he wanted from her, and that put her on edge but she felt wary of asking. She didn't want to lead him to questions that she felt no desire whatsoever to answer.

"You've read it?" She asked tersely, her eyes flicking up for a fraction of a second before focusing solely on the page in front of her without registering a single word.

He nodded out of habit, despite knowing that she could not see it. "Multiple times. The thing that I always find astounding is how forgiving she is. She'd rather be happy than keep on holding it against him."

Sakura looked up and sharply, but the silver haired man had already turned away from her, begining his perusal of a newly stocked shelf. Unsure of how to respond, Sakura remained silent, watching him discreetly as she attempted to push down her feelings of guilt, need and unease.

Several minutes later a small stack of books appeared neatly in front of her and she struggled to drag her eyes away from them to make eye contact with her customer.

"Wanna grab a coffee?"

"What?" He said the words so casualyl that he caught her off guard.

"I asked if you would like to grab a coffee with me." He repeated smoothly. "Or something else if you have developed a deep hatred for caffeine." He nodded towards the smoothie beside her that had become a healthy coffee replacement. She wasn't going to admit it to him, but she was finding it difficult to stay in shape with her new civilian lifestyle. She was going to the gym twice a week, and also went for a run on Sunday mornings. but it simply wasn't the training that he was accustomed to.

Although, by the way that Kakashi eyed her up when he stopped by, she wasn't doing THAT badly.

"Um, okay." She whispered, and he smiled in response. Sakura wasn't sure if it was because she had agreed of because she was staring at him as if he had grown an extra head.

"What time can you slack off? Now by any chance?" Sakura smiled slowly, a small happy smile that only Kakashi could induce, but shook her head.

"I finish up at five-thirty."

"Five fifteen it is then. Now ring up my books, you are by far the worst till worker I have ever seen."

"Here you go, asshole-chan!" Sakura sang happily, fixing a sticker bearing the legend 'I'm a wonderful reader' to the wrapped package.

"I knew you thought I was wonderful."

"I also think you're an asshole. Now leave."

"'Till Five-fifteen!"

"Five-thirty!"

The sound of the door opening and closing again fully hit her for the first time that day.

Why had she agreed? This was ridiculous and he'd end up hurt somehow and she wouldn't be able to take it. Why couldn't she just find a civilian to be interested in? Civilians didn't get hurt. They got ninja to do their dirty work for them.

That was probably the reason why civilians quite simply just didn't get it.

888

It was long past dark when they left, around ten minutes before closing time. As a weekday in a civilian area, the streets were mainly empty, the only sounds being the low thud of music emanating from one of the pubs or the occasional car driving past to some late night destination.

This wouldn't have been late in her old home. A ninja's life was a constant battlefield, and there would be ninja everywhere, catching up with each other outside of missions, being able to see perfectly well in the dark. Being able to sense an approaching person long before they were in sight.

She still could. She could feel the erratic chakra of a mid level ninja in the home directly across from them as he made love to his civilian girlfriend. She could feel Kakashi's body heat even though they were no where close to touching.

She could feel the fear of a girl in an alley five blocks away. She could feel her own need to help her. She knew Kakashi felt it too. Their eyes met. They ran.

Her clothes were ripped and her skin grazed and in places shredded from her thrashing and lashing out against the rough brick wall behind her. It was amazing how quickly her tear streaked face relaxed into a mixture of relief and astonishment at the sight of her attacker, slumped against a couple of rubbish bins with a slit throat.

Maybe civilians did get hurt after all.

Kakashi made quick work of the body, sending it straight to Tsunade with a message telling her to do what she wished with the corpse.

He doubted that anyone would miss it.

Sakura walked over to the girl slowly, uncertainly pulling her into her arms. "Do you have anyone to stay with? Where would you like us to take you?"

"Home. I want to go home."

**A/N - Well that was chapter 31! The next chapter is likely going to be about Sakura's mother but I shall try to update Taboo before that. I put up a one shot this morning as well - thank you to those of you who have already reviewed. You are the best! My next one is going to have something to do with a cupboard.**

**Thank you to: Laurie, Mina Luriya, jen and Temarilyn for reviewing the last chapter. I said I'd be quicker about updates and I sure as hell am! I have to say, I too am quite sad about this coming to an end; this fic has been my baby for over a year now... ah well. Onto the next!**

**Kashi-Cookie-Monster**

**xxxx**


	33. The End

A/N – This is the final chapter! Oh noes!

Sakura's mother is named Kiyomi in this, unless anyone can tell me what she's actually called. Most of this chapter is a past event, so that's obviously why Sakura's parents are alive.

Warning : This chapter is pretty disgusting.

Chapter 33

_**The clock struck 7. **_It was going to be bad again.

There was nothing she could do. By now she knew this.

"Sakura honey, I think it is time for you to go to bed." Large green eyes widened as a lower lip stuck out and it was very easy to read her response. It was the same as any other small child. "If you're not quite tired yet, how about you draw me a picture?"

"Of the beach, Mummy!" Sakura's small pink pigtails bobbed delicately up and down on her head as she jumped around excitedly. "'Cause that's where we're going to go, right Mum?"

Kiyomi swallowed forcefully at the lump in her throat that was trying to call her out on her lie. "Yes, sweetie." She forced the words out, digging up as bright a smile as she could for her five-year-old daughter. "We're going to go to the beach. And then we'll go wherever you want honey."

"I want to go to the zoo!" Sakura's innocent little face lit up happily as she rattled off everything that she wanted to see. "... and a hippo and an elephant, and a _tiger_!" Sakura paused for breath momentarily. "Mummy, dad says that tigers are dangerous. Is it safe to see them in the zoo?"

They're not as dangerous as he is.

"It's fine, love. The ones in the zoo are trained not to hurt you. Why don't you draw me one?"

"OK, Mummy!"

It was quarter past and he still wasn't home.

"Mummy, I'm finished!"

"That's absolutely wonderful darling, now how about an elephant?"

"Of course! Coming right up miss!" Sakura's voice changed to mimic someone she had once heard serving customers at the fruit and veg stands around the corner. She paused momentarily to look Kiyomi in the eye. "When I grow up, I want to be an artist."

And off Sakura scampered, back to her room.

It was 7:50 when he finally came home, Kiyomi rushing to open the door for him when she saw him coming from the living room window. He was wearing his uniform, impeccable as always and complete with his unfeeling mask, leaving her unable to gauge his mood. Until he spoke, there was no way to tell.

"Hello, sweatheart." Kiyomi spoke gently, watching him carefully for any kind of response. "Welcome home." She leaned in to kiss him, her lips coming to a stop only millimetres away from his cheek at the feel of his hand flicking out like lightening to grab her wrist.

Sakura was asleep right? She had only been in bed for around 10 minutes. There was no way to currently tell.

_Please don't need a glass of water._

Finally she came into contact with him, but lingered instead of pulling away completely. "Did you have a good day?"

_Smack!_

Her head snapped to the side, long brown locks whipping around with her to curtain her rapidly swelling cheek, covering the traitorous tears that were already starting to cover it. She moved away from him, keeping her watery eyes focused on his as she quickly moved backwards. But she was only moving into the lounge. There was no escape there.

"It's about to get better."

He moved towards her like a predator, his gait showing that he knew he had her cornered. "Did you have a nice day?" Kiyomi's eyes met his as she waited for the next hit, trying to seek out the trap that she knew he would have placed in there.

_He seemingly got pleasure from her cries as after a while he began lo laugh as he moved towards her, a wide grin stretching his gaunt face his expression hungry as he stalked his prey. He wasn't touching her yet, and that was what confused Sakura the most. He didn't particularly enjoy what he did to her. _

_Only the effects._

Either way, she was going to have to answer.

"No, dear. I missed you too much while you were away providing for us. I wish that there was more that I could do to help you."

"How about DO WHAT YOU'RE DAMN TOLD. You missed me?" He sneered questioningly at her, throwing her over to the sofa. His tugged her hair back so that her face was tipped up to see meet his. "Did you miss me?" He asked again, saliva flicking off of his lethal tongue and spraying her face. His face was manic, a hollow fury that stretched into a wide smile as he hovered over her, letting her know exactly what she was in for. Kiyomi nodded quickly. She knew that any answer was the wrong answer. She knew that no answer would rile him up.

She was doing all that she could.

A hard slap to the face was quickly replaced by his lips and Kiyomi knew that she had made the right decision. He'd moved on quicker than he would have otherwise. She could feel the blood filling her mouth, sliding around his tongue and fought the urge to spit it out. He was kissing her; there was no way that she could pull away. She slid her tongue over his, licking and sucking as she subtly checked her gums over. She wasn't missing any teeth.

Finally he pulled away for air, and Kiyomi tried yet again to find some way to control the situation. "What would you like me to do for you baby?" She breathed out against his ear. Hopefully he would order her around verbally today.

He growled and pulled back his fist, and she flinched for an impact that didn't come. When she finally squinted her eyes open a little he was smiling at her. It always made him happier to see that she was afraid.

He leaned closer to her, smiling. And then the punch hit.

She could barely move as he ripped her clothes away, reminding herself that it would do no good. That never stopped her from trying.

_He was brutal in the way he touched her, __**attacked **__her. He seemingly got no pleasure from it; his face looked in pain, his eyes on hers the entire time. He was grunting with effort in a manner that revolted Sakura in a way that was almost worse than the woman's screams._

"Stop! **Stop! **Please don't hurt me!"

"Please! Stop!" Her pleas were at their loudest now, her eyes scrunched shut. The cold waters of devastation fell anyway, but it did not really matter.

Tears would not stop her tormentor.

As she realised this, her eyes opened focused and clear. She did not scream anymore.

Because her eyes focused on the one thing in the world that she would give everything to protect. The one person that she truly wished would never have to see this, but she was now thankful for her angel's presence.

It reminded her of her purpose.

He pressed the kunai harder against her throat, laughing as he told her to try and move now. She tried to stay still, her eyes focused on the girl huddled in the corner, on the fact that she needed to stay alive, only to sacrifice herself.

The blade dug deeper with every shudder that ran through her body, sobs shuddering through her no matter how hard she tried to suppress them. She couldn't fight back, but she also couldn't help but wonder why she shouldn't. Pain speared through her with every movement of his disgusting body, piercing through her, battering her from the inside out, and leaving her feeling broken. Used. Like her pounded body was no longer good for anything, her once blinkered mind opened and tainted, filled with sick thoughts and ideas. Sometimes she had to wonder if it would be easier to just give in to him. To allow his hands to touch her, to hit her, to hurt her. It would be so much easier to lie back and let him have his way with her, to just drift away and wait until it was over. Sometimes she did.

More often she felt that death would be preferable. She would rather be nothing, than be like this.

The blood trailed down, covering her semi clothed body and drowning her in the pools of scarlet. When she finally gave up, she watched the trails, somehow thankful that the blood was coming from somewhere else, that she could pretend he wasn't making her bleed, in the worst way that he possibly could.

He laughed when he was done, kicking the pale form that fell to the floor the moment that he released her. He spat on her limp body. He left without a glance towards the child that huddled crying in the corner.

"Mummy?"

Blood stained hair found its way into the pink haired child's lap, the tears that washed it not stopping until hours later, when something could finally be done.

_Her body moved of its own accord, before she could even contemplate moving with her conscious thought. A sensation close to the feel of water pounded inside her eardrums, her head fuzzy and her vision blurred. She felt out of control, as if her whole being was being swept mercilessly around like a doll. She felt as if she were drowning._

_But __**she**__ wasn't dying. He was._

_**Are you at the beach now, Mummy?**_

888

Drops of tea spilled over the cup, splashing onto the kitchen floor as Sakura shook in Kakashi's arms. "I wanted to be able to _help_!" She hissed, her furious tears spilling over. "But the ninja always pick up all the slack! Itachi never even did anything wrong, and no one knows that! My family were _killed_ for that!"

"Sakura…" Kakashi sighed. "I've told you this before, and I'll tell you again _at some point you have to realise… it is naivety and self-destruction that allows people to punish themselves… for pain that they have already suffered."_

"What do you mean? I'm finally doing something else, that won't hurt me. Why do you want to change that?"

"You're not Sakura. You're exactly like me. You lost your family –twice- and now you are distancing yourself before you can lose anything more. "

"No, I'm protecting myself!"

"Then why have you been avoiding me?"

"I haven't…" Sakura buried her face in his shoulder as she cried, the words coming out to softly that Kakashi had to strain to hear. "I don't want to lose you too. I am protecting myself from you hurting me. Only ninjas get hurt."

"I'm sure that the civilian earlier would disagree with you."

Silence filled the room as Kakashi's words sunk in, and he pulled away once her tears had stopped, placing a piece of black cloth in her hand and turning to leave. He was stopped by her soft, pain filled voice.

"I'm sure that she has people who want to help her." The words were not bitter. "She –"

"She was saved by ninja."

"No, she'll be saved by the people who care."

Soft lips ghosted over hers, before vanishing, leaving Sakura to stare at the leaf symbol that she held in her palm. His final words lingered long after he did.

"I care, Sakura."

**A/N – Well, that was the final chapter! *cries* This was the most difficult chapter to write, I have to say, but this was how I had planned the ending all along. A bit angsty I know.**

**As for Sakura being a civilian, I am sorry that that was not explained properly, but I wanted to do it without any awkward conversations, and there are hints in that 'civilians don't get hurt' that suggests why she doesn't want to be a ninja anymore.**

**Hopefully, everything is now tied together.**

**I'm gonna miss this fic! Thank you so much for reading it! xxxxxx**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this fic, you are absolutely amazing, wonderful, helpful people! So thank you – **

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